Vulnerable Butterfly
by ArbyMaster458
Summary: A story based on ART OF WAR by CranberryVishnu, Vulnerable Butterfly begins a month after RISE of DIO and METAVERSE. Ayane has distanced herself from Naruto, trying her best to completely rid herself of her love towards him, feeling that he sees her as nothing more than a friend. This leads to a confrontation that has her at her most vulnerable.
1. Characters

**Protagonists:**

Ayane - The kunoichi has always been in love with Naruto, ever since they met when they were 12-years old. Assuming that Naruto does not feel the same for her, assuming it's because she's being Raidou's child, and jealous of the relationship he has with girls of noble families like Hinata, Moka, after everything they've been through together, she discards the purple headband he gave her and tries her best to rid herself of these feelings by staying away from him, hoping to use the distance to forget them entirely and move on. During Part III of Journey to Now, Ayane was given a letter by Kureha, Momiji's late older sister, telling her to open up about her feelings, something she just can't do.

Naruto Uzumaki - The Hero of the Fourth Great Ninja War, Naruto is tasked by Kirigiri to look into Haruka, Hayashi, Kouta and his gang. Prior to this, Naruto had been recovering his powers, having overused it during **Naruto: METAVERSE**. Unknown to Ayane, Naruto has genuine feelings for her, but after having his "forced upon" first time with Hinata, despite not feeling the same for her, he feels unworthy/undeserving of Ayane, feeling ashamed of himself, having these flings with other girls to mask his guilt. However, the thought of not having the purple-haired kunoichi at his side hurts more.

 **Supporting:**

Kyouko Kirigiri - One of the founding members of Future Foundation, Kirigiri has Naruto going after Kouta and his gang after a large shipment of UltraTech gear was "stolen".

Kasumi - Ayane's older half-sister, the two have slowly started patching up their relationship. Noticing her sister's change to her distant ways, Kasumi goes to Naruto, wanting to know what he did wrong, ultimately hearing Naruto's true feelings.

Hinami Fueguchi - A 14-year old girl whose parents hailed from the Uzumaki Clan, Hinami is Naruto's niece, being under his care after her parents were killed by ghouls. Whenever Naruto's not home, Ayane would be the one to take care of her, growing fond of the purple-haired kunoichi. With Ayane leaving, Hinami stays with Rito Yuuki, hers and Naruto's cousin.

Haru Okumura - A 19-year old college student and member of The Phantom Thieves, she is an old friend of Naruto's from when they were young. A month before Vulnerable Butterfly, she and the blond had a one-night stand. The blond also helped invest in Haru's cafe, which has become fairly popular.

Yui Kotegawa - A Sainan High student who harbors romantic feelings towards Naruto's cousin, Rito Yuuki, Kotegawa has formed a friendship with Ayane during the events of **The Long-Lost Cousin**.

Kazuma Kiryu - Set before **Yakuza 4** , Kazuma Kiryu, a former member of the Dojima Family, informs Naruto on Kouta when the blond approaches him in Kamurocho, warning him of how dangerous a coward like him is. He may play a role near the end of the story.

Hotaruko Rinko - A high school student and soon-to-be runaway, Hotaruko finds herself being saved by Ayane, who tells her to get her act together and go back to her parents after beating on her (ex-)boyfriend, who happens to be a member of Kouta's gang.

Aiko Nakumura - A former lazy playboy, and the former heir to the Nakumura Family's multi-billion dollar fortune, Aiko left it all behind, leaving the inheritance to his younger brother Yuno, after their father died in a car accident looking for him, feeling the guilt of not reconciling with him. He has since become a professional race car driver using his dream of riding to forget. He finds himself involved with the fight against Kouta and his gang when Naruto, Hotaruko, and Ayane stop his car and make their escape from Kouta's hideout, being chased after.

Sal - A simple but capable car mechanic of American descent, Sal is Aiko's father-figure, as well as the main member of Aiko's pit crew.

Lorenzo - A young pit crew member, Lorenzo dreams of being a race car driver, looking up to Aiko.

Trent Masterson - An American member of the Japan police force, Trent leads Naruto's Erebus Squad, a team given to him by Kyouko Kirigiri, after Ray's retirement, informing Naruto of cases the police can't handle or solve.

Ray Peters - A seasoned member of Erebus Squad, Ray retires to be with his wife and family. Though his role may be little, he is one of the driving forces for Naruto to go after Ayane.

 **Antagonists:**

Hayashi - Hotaruko's ex and Kouta's ally, Hayashi is equally as dangerous as his boss, setting up the events in the story when Ayane saves Hotaruko from going with him. Though Kouta's the main villain in ART OF WAR, Hayashi shares the main antagonist spotlight with Kouta.

Kouta - A former member of the Tojo Clan, Kouta ran away from his former allies after being caught in the middle of a heinous crime, seeking protection from and joining the Yomei Alliance. Due to this new affiliation, he has connections to UltraTech and Talon, who provides the alliance the technology needed to crush the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance.

Haruka - Kouta's second-in-command, Haruka's a professional assassin with knife skills.

Ellis Kayden - Not entirely a bad guy, Ellis is an American-Japanese cop stationed in Kamurocho. He finds himself an informant for Kouta, who helps provide money for his family, mostly his older sister and ailing father. He becomes a somewhat important character in the story.

Doomfist - The leader of Talon, Akande Ogundimu possesses the Doomfist Gauntlet, which increases his great strength and agility.

Moira O'Deorain - A brilliant and controversial geneticist, Moira makes up part of Talon's inner council.


	2. Chapter 1

**I will say this: I wasn't so sure if I should write non-linear because then there's be severe gaps that are not touched upon. There are several stories before this I want to tell, but I've always wanted to tell this story, it was just very difficult to figure out how without a plan. I also wanted to do stories in a linear fashion, but things don't get done and they accumulate until you're overwhelmed.**

 **I very much stressed at not being able to write what I want, limited by FIREBRAND and wondering what to work on. I still work on it, but I want to do this too. It's selfish but my choice. And yes it may not make sense, but that is because these stories have yet to be told. I'm not Hideo Kojima or a wizard for that matter, I'm just me.**

 **The next few parts you'll be reading will be moments that Ayane had that pushed her to leave. It will also spoil future events as well as show how hurt she felt despite putting out her usual self.**

* * *

 **Road to Journey to Now**

"You're going to record this!?" yelled Ayane, her face turning red.

"Yeah, after all, this is a rare sight that I wish to keep for myself. A memento."

"Just promise me that you won't show anyone that recording." Naruto promised Ayane before telling her to do her thing, telling her to make her apology believable. Putting on a genuine cute and embarrassed look on her face, as her hair covered her eyes, Ayane starts her apology.

"I...I guess I o-o...overreacted a little...For that..." Naruto couldn't help but turn red in the face as Ayane continued. "I'm sorry for hitting you. P-Please, forgive me...Na-Na...Naruto-sama..." After finishing, she angrily asked Naruto if it was good enough, only to see a red-faced Naruto staring at her, having finished recording her.

"...I think I love you." This caught the girl off guard as Jiraiya and Ryu sport surprised looks on their faces.

"What...What did you say!?"

"I-I didn't say anything! You didn't hear anything!" he told her. "...I need 2 minutes." Wondering what Naruto meant by two minutes, Jiraiya watched as his apprentice ran off into the forest.

"I was sure he said something to me," Ayane said to herself. She was in so much shock that she couldn't remember what the blond said to her. Looking at the girl, Jiraiya told himself, "Must be great being young..."

"What the hell are you going on about?" When asked what Naruto told her, Ryu turned away and told her he didn't hear him say anything.

* * *

 **Journey to Now Part I**

 **Night of the Ninja Festival**

 **Chuuma Village**

Naruto begins heading towards the spot he was supposed to meet Kureha and Momiji. He stops in his tracks when he heard boxes falling down along with some screaming. Rushing towards it, he sees a little girl crying, having just being saved by Ayane, whose feet were stuck under the boxes. As the mother of the little girl checked on her daughter, Naruto helped get the boxes off of Ayane.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I am fine. Those things didn't even- AH!" Checking her right foot, Naruto noticed a little bruising around the ankle. With a small smile, Naruto tells her he'll treat her foot.

"I can do it myself," she told him, Naruto telling her to not be so stubborn and allow him to help as he got a handkerchief and started bandaging her right foot.

"That was nice of you. To save that girl from the falling boxes." Ayane turned red as Naruto continued treating her foot. "...Hinata said you called her a coward. Mind telling me what that's about?"

"I was angry that she wasn't friends with you sooner...Otherwise, you'd..." Naruto smiles as her as he tells her, "I understand, just remember to pull back your "punches."

"Sometimes you have to be tough with people, or else they don't learn from their mistakes, or improve..." Wanting to change the subject, Ayane asked him what he was doing for the fireworks.

"I'm watching it with Kureha and Momiji. I was about to head there until I heard the boxes drop...There we go. Can you walk?"

"No...Seriously what the hell were in those boxes?"

"Who knows..." he told her, getting up.

"I'll be fine...Just...go meet up with Kureha for the fireworks..." To her surprise, he told her no. Next thing she knew, Naruto turned around and crouched down, telling her to get on his back. "What? But what about Kureha? Won't you miss-"

"I spent some time with her in Japan for a while before coming here. I'm sure she'll understand. Hurry..." Though a bit hesitant, Ayane slowly walks over and wraps her arms around Naruto as he carried her to where he was supposed to meet the shrine maiden.

 **9:58 pm**

As Naruto carried her, he told her of his time in Japan with Kureha, sounding happy as he talked about his time with the shrine maiden, telling her of the places they visited and the pictures she took using the camera he bought for her.

"You make it sound like she's your mother..."

"You're not wrong there..." Naruto told her with a smile. "She does have that motherly presence...Did you have plans to watch the fireworks with someone?"

"I was going to watch it with Genra..." she told him. "Though I couldn't find him."

"Is that right..." Ayane sighed as she told him how she and her "father" would watch the fireworks together every year.

"You don't want to watch it with Kasumi and Hayate?" Ayane told her that, as a Hajinmon kunoichi, they had they don't celebrate it with the Tenjinmon. "That shouldn't stop you from watching it with them."

"Even so, it's the rule."

"Well, it's a stupid one, if I must say so myself...Are you okay? Your leg?"

"No...It still hurts," she told him, burying her blushing face into his back. In truth, she was able to walk, but she wasn't going to pass at this moment now. "I should be fine, as long as Genra and I are looking up at the same sky...Also..."

"Also?" Before she could say more, the two hear the fireworks explode above them. Looking up, the two viewed the bright colorful lights that illuminated the starry night sky.

"They're beautiful..." Naruto said to himself as Ayane looked at him.

"Yeah...They are, aren't they?" said Ayane. As the two watched them together, Genra watched them in secret, smiling to himself behind his mask. At other spots, Hinata watched the same fireworks with her family and Tenten while Kasumi and Hayate watched it with their parents. After the fireworks show was over, Naruto made it to the spot where he was supposed to meet Kureha, finding Momiji there with her.

"There you are Naruto!" said a smiling Kureha, noticing the blond carrying Ayane on his back. "So you were with Ayane? I guess you watched the fireworks with her?"

"Yeah, she hurt her leg earlier...How is it, Ayane?" She tells him she could walk now and to set her down. Putting her down, Naruto asked her why her face was red.

"Just...a small fever. I'll be fine." As Naruto went over to talk to the others about their night, Ayane turned to her right to read a sign explaining the many charms people could get at the festival. One of them was the relationship charm. "A man may propose marriage by offering his relationship charm to a woman...How simple and ridiculous can these things be?"

"So did you win anything during the festival?" Kureha asked the blond.

"I won mostly sweets, plus this charm I got from winning the top prize at a shuriken stall," he answered, holding it up, surprising Kureha and Momiji.

"Naruto, that's a-"

"However, it's not something someone like me should be carrying." Turning around he called Ayane's name.

"What is it?"

"Here, you can have this." Ayane reacts quickly when Naruto tossed the charm to her, catching it in her hands. Looking down, her eyes widened when she realized he just tossed her a relationship charm. At the same time, the two shrine maidens turned red in the face.

"Oh my..." Kureha said to herself, her left hand over her mouth.

"Wait...WHAT!?" Ayane yelled, her face turning tomato red as she looked up at Naruto before looking down at the charm. "You're not serious...about giving me this, ARE YOU!?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I want you to have it," he told her. "Besides, I think someone like you would like it." Backing away a bit, Ayane turned redder.

"What? You're...You're serious!?"

"Of course I'm serious. Why wouldn't I-"

"Kyahh!" yelled Ayane, putting her arms behind her. "My sash..."

"What about it?"

"It's...un...unraveling..." Naruto's eyes slowly widened as he yelled, "EHHHHH!?"

"Oh my..."

"Do-Don't worry, I'll just go over and-" Ayane stops him, telling him to not come near her as her cleavage is exposed. "I...I can do this myself!"

"No, you can't!" Turning to Kureha and Momiji he asked them to help Ayane, only for them to look the other way as Kureha told him, "You should do it Naruto. After all, you have to take responsibility for her now..."

"I don't get what you mean, but okay." In an instant, Naruto appeared behind Ayane as he helps her fix her sash.

"It's your fault my sash unraveled." When asked how it was his fault, she told him he just had to give the charm to her.

"It's just a charm, I mean it's not like...I..." Turning to the Charm Board, Naruto read about the information about each one before noticing the information about the charm he gave her. Caught off guard, Naruto, now red in the face, accidentally lets go of the sash. The left sleeve of Ayane's yukata droops down, exposing her back and her left breast.

"IT"S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!"

"MY SASH!"

* * *

 **Valley of the End (Rain)**

 **After the battle with Sasuke**

Arriving right after Sasuke defeats Naruto, Ayane's eyes widened when she saw the Uchiha standing over the blond. Forming a look of rage from seeing the state the blond was in, Ayane ran at Sasuke and sliced off his left arm, using her Fuma Kodachi. The Uchiha reeled back in pain as blood gushed out of his severed arm. The Hajinmon kunoichi then kicked him to the ground before preparing to finish him off. Before she could, Kabuto arrives and takes him away, receiving a diagonal cut on his face from Ayane's right blade. After Sasuke and Kabuto's escape, Ayane puts away her kodachis before turning around and going over to check up on Naruto, just as Kakashi and Pakkun arrive.

"Ayane, where's Sasuke?" Kakashi asked the girl.

"Gone..." she told him, clenching her fists in anger.

"I see...So we were too late..." Kakashi tells Ayane the other Jonins have found the others and that they were returning to Konoha. The Hajinmon kunoichi puts Naruto on her back before following the Jonin back to the Hidden Leaf Village.

* * *

 **Journey to Now Part II (Unwritten story)**

 **Raidou's Attack on the Mugen Tenshin Village**

"I have come for the Torn Sky Blast!" yelled Raidou, a sinister smile on his face as he threw a Mugen Tenshin shinobi aside. Anger in her eyes, Ayane yelled Raidou's name, venom in her voice as she rushed at him and threw a few strikes and kicks at her father, only to have them blocked by him before he strikes her chest with his palm, sending her flying at one of the houses, her back hitting hard against the hard-wooded door. As Hayate checked on Ayane, Raidou insults him, voicing how weak he was to be protected by a girl.

Getting up, not looking away from his opponent, Hayate runs at Raidou, performing a spin kick. With a smirk, Raidou arched his back a bit to avoid his right foot before avoiding aright punch, and then a left one. With only his left hand, Raidou struck Hayate with a flurry of precision placed attacks, letting out a burst of evil laughter as he easily overpowered the young heir to the clan.

Getting up, not hearing Ayane's warning, Hayate prepares to use the Torn Sky Blast on Raidou. However, this was what the former Mugen Tenshin ninja wanted as he yelled, "NOW I HAVE THE TORN SKY BLAST AS WELL!" At the same time, both opponents launched their ninpos, engaging in a clash of power that results in an explosion that knocks Hayate back, cracking his spine against a tree.

"MASTER HAYATE!" yelled Ayane as Raidou laughed out loud, voicing how weak the current heir was. As he prepared to leave, he heard Naruto rush in the scene, stopping as he looked at the bodies of fallen Mugen Tenshin shinobi.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

Seeing Ayane hurt and struggling to get up, and Hayate in a critical condition, anger rose inside the blond shouts, "How dare you...HOW DARE YOU HURT THEM!" Running at the nukenin, Naruto threw his left fist forward. WIth a simple chuckle, he dodges the punch before preparing to strike the angry blond with his right elbow. Quickly turning around, Naruto caught it, amusing Raidou as the blond chunin repels him before striking his opponent's right shoulder with his right palm, and then performing a left palm strike to his opponent's left shoulder before finishing with a left forearm strike to his stomach.

The angered Naruto doesn't stop there as he throws his right foot forward, kicking Raidou back. Coughing into his right hand, Raidou looks down to see his own blood on it.

"You brat, how can you-" Before he could say another word, Naruto appears in front of him in an instant and pummels Raidou with his fists.

"You...You're the one who's caused Ayane so much pain..." The blond Chunin knocks Raidou down with a powerful right hook after saying that. "You are the reason she suffered..." Getting up quickly, Raidou uses the Torn Sky blast on Naruto, only to have the blond put his hand forward as the ninpo hits it. To the shock of Raidou, the technique forms into a spiraling white sphere surrounded by lightning in Naruto's hand. "For that, I won't forgive you! Ninpo: Rending Wind Rasengan!" Appearing in front of Raidou, he thrust the sphere into his chest, sending him flying out of the village, the blond Chunin in pursuit.

Recovering from the attack, Raidou is left badly wounded as Naruto slowly walks towards him, prepared to finish him off. Not wanting to die at the hands of a brat, the nukenin uses a teleportation ninpo to escape.

 **The next morning**

"I DIDN'T NEED YOU TO COME HELP!" yelled a bed-ridden and bandaged Ayane, swatting a now-confused Naruto's hand away.

"Ayane, I just-"

"He was right there! I finally had the chance to kill my father, and you let him get away!"

"He was going to kill you. I saved you, your brother, and the villagers. A guy like him, like Raidou, you can't beat him," Naruto told her. Clenching her teeth in anger, Ayane asked him if it was because she was weak. "No, I didn't mean-"

"Don't lie to me! It's true isn't it!?" she asked, tears streaming down her face.

"Ayane..."

"Tell me!" Looking away, Naruto told her she wasn't strong enough to face him.

"It's because of you. Ever since I met you, I've forgotten my revenge...I've gotten soft..." Looking down, she told him to never show his face to her. This shocked Naruto as he heard those words come out of her mouth. "If I see you again, I won't forgive you..."

"...Very well, if that's what you want...then...this is goodbye." As soon as Naruto left, the kunoichi wept at her own weakness.

* * *

 **Journey to Now Part III (Unwritten Story)**

 **The night Naruto found out Jiraiya had died**

 **Hokage Rock**

Alone, Naruto sat on top of the Fourth Hokage's head. As he was about to cry, he noticed Ayane's presence, turning around to meet her eyes.

"Ayane..."

"Why are you here? I thought you didn't-"

"I...I heard about Jiraiya..."

"I see...First Old Man Third, then Kureha, and now..." At this point, Naruto struggled to hold it in as tears streamed down his face. "I'm sorry you had to see me like this. I-" Naruto stops as tears flowed down Ayane's face.

"Ayane, why are you..." Walking over to sit next to him, she told him she killed Genra, her "father", last night, having been turned into Omega by DOATEC. While Genra had to be stopped, he was still her "father", whom she cared for very much, enough to be the one to end him. As Ayane cried, Naruto held her, the two silently mourning someone they lost. As time went by, they eventually found themselves lying on their backs, looking up at the night sky.

"I'm...sorry I told you I didn't want to see you," Ayane told the blond before asking him if he missed her. She found herself slightly annoyed when he told her he was managing pretty well without her ever since that day. "You ass..."

"...I'm lying. It was pretty hard..." he tells her. "I really missed you. I even thought about coming to the village to visit, regardless of what you said. However...I wanted to give you some space so..." Ayane tells Naruto that even if he went to the village, she wouldn't have been home, having been in pursuit of Kasumi, having only returned to perform the funeral pyre for Genra, and to see the blond.

"You're going back out there?" asked Naruto, the Hajinmon kunoichi telling Naruto she had unfinished business with DOATEC. "I see..."

"I've had some time to think, before I had to kill Genra, and...I'm going to help my sister." Naruto lightly smiled at this. "It makes me happy to hear that..."

"Thank my mother..." When asked if she and her mother actually reconciled, Ayane simply nodded.

"...I missed this part of you the most. You should definitely bring it out more."

"Go to hell Naruto..." The blond simply closed his eyes and chuckled. "I'm glad that you're here, Ayane...I was in a very lonely place...in my heart...but...I don't know what I'd do without you..." The Hajinmon kunoichi said nothing as Naruto spoke to her. "Do you plan to leave at sunrise?"

"I have to..." Ayane responds, just as Naruto holds her left hand in his right one.

"Can you...stay for a while?" Ayane said yes, turning her head to the right to hide her blushing face. A few hours of sleep later, as the sun was about to come up, Ayane woke up turning to her left to see the sleeping blond. With a small smile, she gets up and goes into a kneeling position before looking at Naruto's lips. Gently brushing her hair aside, Ayane moved her head down to deliver a deep and passionate kiss on Naruto's lips. This lasted for 20 seconds before she parted lips with the sleeping Chunin, a faint redness on her face.

"When I get back...I will tell you how I feel about you. I want to try and make my own happiness, with you at my side. Just...wait for me until then, okay?" Having said that, Ayane left.

* * *

 **After the Fourth Great Ninja War**

 **Naruto's House**

Ayane smiles to herself as she made her way to Naruto's, wanting to confess her feelings to him. It was a surprise when he told her he wanted her to come to his place for something important he needed to tell her. Appearing from the balcony leading to the living room, Ayane stops after seeing Hinata and Naruto kissing. In her mind, she felt she was too late. She felt that Naruto chose Hinata over her. Why?

"I was wrong...Of course, I was wrong...I was stupid to think that he'd fall for someone like me...Hinata's a princess and I'm just..." Clenching her teeth, Ayane holds back tears as she turns and goes off into the night, heartbroken.

* * *

 **Village Gates**

 **The Day Naruto leaves Konoha**

"So you're leaving the Hidden Leaf?" asked Ayane, remaining distant from the blond as Rin stood behind Naruto.

"My work here is done. There's nothing keeping me here anymore, not to sound uncaring." Looking down Ayane sees a warm bowl of ramen in Naruto's hands, asking if it was for Kureha. "Yeah...I did promise her to take a bowl of ramen to her every time I visit the Hayabusa Village." Noticing how distant the Hajinmon kunoichi was, he asked her if she was okay. She said nothing, only looking away.

"...Whatever you're feeling, you can come to me about it...okay?"

"Maybe..."

"You make it sound like I won't see you again. We can still see each other. I mean, you're usually out doing missions and...when you're not busy, you can come to see me," he told her. Her hair covering her eyes, Ayane asked him why he'd tell her that before asking why he doesn't tell Hinata, unaware that Naruto and Hinata weren't boyfriend and girlfriend.

"I just...like having you around..." said Naruto, hiding the obvious fact that he was in love with her, but feeling unworthy of the Hajinmon kunoichi after Hinata came over to his place.

"You idiot...Saying stuff like that..." Naruto looked puzzled when she told him that.

"Naruto, we should hurry to the Hayabusa Village. We don't want to miss our flight," said Rin, Naruto nodding before he and Rin walked ahead.

"Naruto..." Turning around, he wondered what she wanted from him. "What did you want to tell me? At your place?" Though it pained him to say, he told her, "I was going to say that you are a very good person to have around and that I...I look forward to working with you more."

"Is that it?" Hiding his regret, he said yes.

 **"So our relationship's always going to be like this, huh...Naruto..."**

* * *

 **Rosario Vampire Part II: THE BROKEN BOND** **(Unwritten Story)**

 **The day before the Land of the Yuki-Onna Mission**

 **Sushi Saito**

"I'm glad you could make it, Ayane." Ayane looked annoyed as the blond smiled at her, rudely asking him why he didn't call Hinata or Sasuke to help him. "Hinata's busy with peace talks with the Prime Minister of Japan, Sasuke does not have a cellphone I can call him on, and Shikamaru's out with his girlfriend. You were the only option. Well, the best option..."

"Is that so..." When asked how she was doing, Ayane told the blond she was just peachy. In truth, she wasn't okay, having the blond in her mind, even as she was out on a mission. It was frustrating for her, even more, when Naruto called her.

"You don't know how much it means to me that you showed up..." Naruto told her, clenching his drink tight as he explains his fear of losing another important person in his life. Feeling some empathy towards Naruto, Ayane attempts to put an assuring hand on his hand, only to move it back, just as Kirigiri showed up.

* * *

 **Rosario Vampire Part II: THE BROKEN BOND** **(Unwritten Story)** **(Unwritten Scene)** **(Deleted Scene)**

 **Land of the Yuki-Onna Mission**

 **Naruto's Apartment**

 **Hinami's Room**

Checking Hinami's temperature, after administering the cure for her condition by Orochimaru, and feeding the girl rice porridge, Ayane tells Hinami she should get some rest. When asked where Naruto was, she told her he was out on a mission at Yokai Academy and would be back tomorrow.

"So he won't be back until tomorrow, huh..." said Hinami.

"To leave me to take care of a kid...That jerk...Always leaving me with the little things while handling the big ones...Why not ask Hinata to do it?"

"You're doing a great job taking care of me," Ayane looked surprised when the 14-year old told her that. "You would make a good mom..."

"A mom huh...Like that'll happen..." Seeing the frown on the kunoichi's face, Hinami covered her face with her blanket before asking the kunoichi why she said that. "Because...I..." Peeking up from her blanket, Hinami saw a frustrated look on Ayane's face.

"...Do you...love Naruto?"

"No...I hate him...Very very much..." Just by looking at her Hinami knew it wasn't true but decided to not press on it as she decided to learn more about Ayane and hopefully understand the kunoichi. "How much do you hate him?"

"Enough for my heart to remain at ease...To me, my hate towards him is...my self-defense. To deal with the pain I feel whenever I see him."

"So...by turning the pain you feel towards him into hate...your heart will remain at ease?" Ayane confirms it. "It must be hard...to be near him...especially when he has a..." Hinami covers her face to avoid what looked her glare from Ayane. However, that wasn't the case. As Ayane gently pats the top of Hinami's head, the latter looks out of the covers to see the sad but smiling kunoichi tell her, "I hope you don't grow up to feel the same hate I have towards someone..."

"...Ayane-san?"

"Yes?'

"...When you're ready...Can you maybe tell me how you really feel? About Naruto?"

"Unlike Naruto, you're not so oblivious...I'm sorry, but I can't promise you that, Hinami..." Understanding, Hinami asked her if she could at least sleep in her bed. "Y-Yes, of course..." Hours into the night, as Ayane woke up to see Hinami's arms wrapped around her waist as she cried in her sleep.

 _"Mom..."_ Ayane tried to take Hinami's hands off of her, but the girl unconsciously tightened her hold on the kunoichi. To her, having the girl form an attachment to her was an "inconvenience". Clenching her teeth, Ayane said to herself, "You're making this hard for me to hate you..."

* * *

 **Rosario Vampire x High School DxD: RISE OF DIO (Unwritten Story)**

 **Occult Research Club Building**

Waking up, a couple hours after getting her Power and Memory Discs back, Ayane rose from the bed before turning to her left to see Naruto sleeping next to her. Looking over, she saw a sleeping Hinata at his side, having been watching over them while the two were in their death-like coma caused by Enrico Pucci. Seeing the two, Ayane's gentle anger grew. This was the last straw for the Hajinmon kunoichi. Saying nothing, she discards her purple headband and gets out of bed before she approached the window and lept out.

* * *

 **Now**

 **A month after Naruto: METAVERSE**

 **Kamurocho, Japan**

 **Rinko Residence**

"Hotaruko, just wait!" Turning around, the 17-year old girl told her mother she wasn't having it. The girl had light purple hair and green eyes, and she wore a blue dress skirt with a black leather jacket and boots. Right now, her mother was holding her by the hand that was holding her luggage. "Don't go with him. That Hayashi's nothing but trouble! Please just-"

"Enough!" yelled the girl as she unintentionally pushed her mother down. Hotaruku looked shocked by this as her mother cried on the floor. Though remorseful, she calmly told her mother once more she was leaving before walking out the door.

 **Okubo Park**

Walking along the cherry blossom trees, Hotaruko stops to see her boyfriend waiting for her. He was a male 3 years older than her, wearing a white t-shirt with a grey jacket hoodie and brown pants. He had a beanie cap over his long brown hair and a pair of sunglasses to cover his brown eyes.

"Sorry I'm late, Hayashi," said a still-remorseful Hotarubi. With a smile, he told her, "It's fine babe. I wasn't waiting long." Seeing her face, he asked her what was wrong.

"I...I hurt my Mom before I got here."

"Oh...Is that so...Well, nothing you can do about it. By now, she must hate you for doing that." Looking down, Hotaruka figures he was right. "Come on, let's go. My car's been running for-"

"Actually...I think...I think I should go back...Apologize to her," she told Hayashi, who looked annoyed.

"Are you serious? Do you actually want to go back? To your Mom? Your father? What if she still-"

"I don't care! I'm going back! It was wrong for me to just up and leave. I need to-" Seeing Hotarubi turn around, Hayashi grabs her hand and tightens his hold on it.

"Really? You're going back? Back to your normal life? What about all of the money I invested in you? In our date!?" he asked her, sounding angry.

"Hayashi, you're hurting me..."

"You're leaving a chance to live a life anyone would dream to have for your parents!? You're leaving me!?"

"Let go!" she yelled as she tried to free herself from Hayashi's grip.

"How are you going to pay me back for all that money I spent on you huh!? Huh!?"

"Hey, she told you to let go, so you better listen to her..."

"And why should I..." Hayashi stops when he sees Ayane glaring at him. The Hajinmon kunoichi had on a brown-and-red hoodie with a white minidress, a pair of sneakers, and a pendant necklace in the shape of a butterfly. Hayashi has a look of interest in his eyes.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to see the winner of the Third Dead or Alive Tournament!" he told her. "Can you please stay right there? I need to deal with a personal-" In an instant, Ayane appeared in front of him before shoving him away from the girl, knocking him down.

"You...You bitch!" Pulling out a gun, he prepares to threaten the purple-haired kunoichi, only to have her appear in front of him once more, swatting the gun away before punching him in the face, breaking his nose. When he threw a punch at her, Ayane simply caught his left fist and, using her ki to enhance her strength, broke the bones in his hand as she tightened her hold on it. Following that, the Hajinmon kunoichi struck the right side of Hayashi, breaking two of his ribs before spinning counterclockwise and kicking him in the face. Turning to Hotaruko, she told her to call the police, telling her to tell them that they were held at gunpoint and that she **(Ayane)** was acting on self-defense. As the girl made the call, Ayane made sure that Hayashi wasn't going anywhere.

"You...You have made a grave mistake honey..."

"Like I care," Ayane told the wounded Hayashi.

"You'll see. I'll make sure you rue this night. That, I promise you..."

 **Kamurocho Police Station**

"Sorry, I can't go with you to visit him at the hospital, Haruhi. I have work I need to do," said the cop, talking to someone on his cell phone as he looked over his paperwork. He was a 31-year old man with a stubble that went with his shaved head. "I...My partner, Trent, had left without saying anything, leaving me to do his paperwork...I don't know why my boss lets him off the hook for leaving whenever he pleases...Yes, I promise to come to visit Dad with you next time, okay?" After saying bye to his sister, he hung up before sighing, looking over the paperwork Trent was supposed to work on.

"Kayden!" Turning his chair to the left, the cop looks up to see a fellow policeman telling him how one of Kouta's men was in the station, having been beaten by Ayane for pulling out a gun and threatening her life and Hotaruko's. "Do we have a name?"

"Hayashi..." Familiar with him, Kayden frowned. "He was threatening two girls, one of them being a previous Dead or Alive Tournament winner."

"...Bring him to interrogation. I'll talk to him personally."

 **Waiting Room**

Hotaruko looked up to where she was sitting to see Ayane offer her a cherry soda. Grateful, she thanks the kunoichi as she takes it off her hands. Ayane sits down next to her, opening a can of cream soda and taking a sip out of it.

"...Thanks for...Helping me...with Hayashi..."

"...Are you really Ayane? The girl who won the third Dead or Alive Tournament?" Ayane sighs before confirming it. "I watched your fight...on TV...You were very graceful with the way you moved, you were like a badass ballerina. All my friends- well, former friends, liked you. I even dyed my hair-"

"I wasn't looking to be crowned the winner that time..." she told Hotaruko. After all, that was the tournament that forced her to kill Genra. "I'm not one to have fans."

"Still...I've always wanted to meet you, though not like...you know..." The kunoichi told her she wasn't planning to help her, but after hearing the girl telling Hayashi he was hurting her, and hearing that he didn't care about how she was feeling, she decided to intervene in order to protect the girl from whatever plans he had for her.

"...My name's Hotaruko Rinko."

"I don't care...I'm not going to remember it anyways..." said Ayane. "So what's the deal with that asshole?"

"He's my boy...ex-boyfriend. He and I bumped into each other and...It was love at first sight, for both me and Hayashi. He was someone with a lot of money and good looks, and I was a high school girl who fell for the bad boys...Parents didn't agree with our relationship, but we still saw each other, for a good 6 weeks. At some point..."

"What?"

"...I started wondering where my life was going. I was afraid for my future. I kept my grades up, all to make my mom and dad proud...But the pressure got to me and..." Hotaruko stops to sip her drink a bit before continuing. "After the first three weeks of dating, I started skipping school...partying, having fun, staying up late, not caring about my grades. Last night, my parents confronted me, telling me I was forbidden to see Hayashi. Like all parents, they said he was a bad influence on me."

"Let me guess, you didn't listen to them. At night, you snuck out of the house and went to see him. After talking about your problems to him, he decided you should leave with him, promising everything you could ever want, and you took it..." Hotaruko simply nods. "Typical..."

"Because of that, I...hurt my Mom and..." Looking at her, Ayane saw the girl preparing to cry her eyes out.

"Hey, don't you dare cry," said Ayane, getting the girl's attention. "If you're going to cry, save it for when you go home and apologize to your parents."

"Ayane..."

"You need to get your act together and go back to the way things were when you didn't meet your ex. If you have something to say to them, tell them as soon as you can...I'm sure they'll understand what you're going through and help you. That Hayashi, he won't understand anything...Not like your parents...All he thinks about is himself and sees you as his personal property...Take time to talk to your Mom and Dad...You'll be surprised." Motivated by her advice, Hotaruko thanked Ayane.

"Well, I better go-"

"Can you come with me? To my house?" Hotaruko interrupts.

"...Huh?" The girl tells Ayane she doesn't have the courage to confront her parents, and that she'd like to have someone like her to convey her feelings if she can't do it. "Did you not hear what I-"

"Please?" Seeing the girl beg her with sad eyes, Ayane, looking annoyed, sighed. "You're 17, yet...Fine...But I'm leaving right after..." After she said that, Ayane found herself being hugged by the girl.

"Thank you..."

 **Interrogation Room**

Entering the room, Kayden was met with an injured but smiling Hayashi waiting for him. He had a bandage for his nose, bandages for his left hand, and a bruise on his left cheek. His right hand was cuffed to the table so he couldn't escape.

"Hello again Ellis..."

"Hayashi..."

"Hows Haru-"

"Don't you dare say her name..." Hayashi goes silent, keeping the smile on his face.

"Let me guess, you want the usual?" Kayden frowned when Hayashi told him how he knew him so well, and that he didn't mind meeting him like this.

"Now would you be a pal and take these cuffs off? I have somewhere I need to be." Kayden doesn't say a word as he walked towards Hayashi and uncuffed him. "Thank you so much...Pal..."

"Just get out of here...I don't want to catch you here again."

"I'll try my best...First, may I have a phone call?"

 **In a forest 17 miles from Kamurocho**

 **5 minutes ago**

 **Five Story Tower**

In the middle of a spacious and bright yellow room, a nude and defiled woman lied on the floor, her arms and legs tied, and her eyes having no life in them as 10 men, having finished having their way with her, got dressed. One of them was an obese Japanese man with straight black hair that was kind of greasy and nearly shoulder length, and he had an unshaven but rough goatee. His attire consists of a pair of military surplus trousers paired with a green tracksuit.

"Huh, looks like we broke her..." With a snap of his finger, he tells some of his men to get rid of the body, seeing as how the woman they had their fun with no longer wanted to live. Nodding, three of them picked her body up and took her out of the room to "dispose of her". Lighting up a smoke, he gets a call from one of his contacts. Taking out his phone, he picks up.

"This is Kouta."

 _ **"The deal went the way we wanted without any trouble on both sides. We now have our hands at two shipments of UltraTech weapons and combat armor."**_ Kouta smirked to himself as he congratulates his benefactor for getting it for him.

"Pretty soon, the Yomei Alliance will make their move, crushing both the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance." When can I expect the shipment?" It brought a huge smile to his face when his benefactor told him he should be getting it tomorrow morning. "Sounds good. I have to go." Hanging up, he turns to see his second in command enter the room. He was a built man with brown hair styled in a ponytail, that reached to his neck, and he wore a grey suit.

"You started the fun without me," he told Kouta.

"Apologies Haruka, that woman was too nice of a piece to wait. You understand how I live: Eat like a King, Fuck like an Animal, and Kill like a Predator."

"Of course..." When he asked about the shipment, a smile formed on his face when Kouta told him they got it, and that as soon as he's fitted with it, Haruka's skills would be deadlier than ever. "As it is, the world is only getting bigger, stranger even. What with aliens that can bust planets arriving on Earth, Humans developing Quirks, and Ninjas who can manipulate the elements. We need to up our game..."

"You don't have to tell me twi-" Kouta stops mid-sentence once his phone rings. "I have to get this. Hello?"

 _ **"Hey Kouta, I may have someone who may interest us both."**_ His interest piqued, he asked him who this someone was. **_"She's a former winner of the Dead Or Alive Tournament. Her name's Ayane, and she is a beaut."_**

"That so..."

 _ **"Earlier, she beat me up in the middle of a quarrel between me and my girl-...ex-girlfriend. I want her to pay for what she did to me, with her body. You think you can help me arrange that?"**_

"I am more than happy to help you, Hayashi. Though it may take some time and planning. Don't want to face her at her best. Anything I should know?" Hayashi tells Kouta he wants to be the first to take the kunoichi as his while they pleasure themselves to the action before they finish the rest. "That can be arranged. We just need to find a way to attract her to us..."

 **Rinko Residence**

Ringing the doorbell, Hotaruko and Ayane wait for a few seconds until the former's mother opens the door, surprised to see her daughter home safe as her father walks in. Shedding tears, Hotaruko apologized for knocking her down as she hugged her mother.

 _"You were right about Hayashi...I promise I will get my grades back up and-"_

"You don't have to say more, Hotaruko. I'm just glad that you're back home safe," Mrs. Rinko interrupts, hugging her daughter back. Noticing Ayane, Mr. Rinko asked her who she was. Letting go of her mother and wiping her tears away, Hotaruko introduced the kunoichi to them.

"She's the former winner of the Dead or Alive Tournament." Ayane looked annoyed when the girl told her parents that, the two adults looking at the girl, familiar with her.

"Seeing you in person...Your purple hair is very pretty. I can see why our daughter dyed her hair purple." The Hajinmon kunoichi's expression changed from annoyed to embarrassed as she thanked the older woman. "Why don't you come in and have dinner with us?"

"Oh no, I'm okay. I was planning to head home and-"

"She'd love to join," Hotaruko interrupts, with Mrs. Rinko telling her she'll set up another plate and chair for the kunoichi at the table. Looking at the girl, Ayane demands an explanation. "It's not every day that a winner of a tournament comes over to your house for dinner."

"...I'm going home after..." Sitting down at the table, Mrs. Rinko sets down a Japanese hot pot and prepares to eat with her family and their guest.

"So tell us about yourself Ayane. Do you have a last name or-"

"No, I don't," she tells Mr. Rinko. My clan, the Mugen Tenshin, has no last names. "However, if I had one...since there are two sects in my clan...my name would be Ayane Hajinmon." Finished with her answer, she picks up a shrimp from the pot and eats it as Mr. Rinko tells her how their daughter would try to imitate her fighting style.

"Father!?" Hotaruko yelled, sounding embarrassed.

"What, I'm just trying to make conversation with the girl. Anyways, she just failed at getting the spinning motions and the kicks right. She even broke a vase one time. Oh how she-"

"Okay let's talk about something else! I know! Do you anyone you like or-" Ayane stops her chopsticks before putting them down. "A...Ayane?"

"No...I don't...Never will..." The dining room fell silent as the Rinko family looked at the sad look on Ayane's face.

"...You are a terrible liar, Ms. Hajinmon," Mrs. Rinko told the kunoichi. "Your face tells me a story."

"What sort of story?"

"A story of a girl who's been hurt by someone, who feels that she is better off alone." Mrs. Rinko tells Ayane, "Call it a mother's intuition. You DO have someone you love. Why say you don't, and never will. Did he do something wrong? To you?"

"...No, he didn't," she told the woman, looking down at her hands. "He's never done anything to me that I hated." When asked how long she knew him, she told her five years.

"There are others who knew him longer, but, for us, we connected more than the others. We understood each other..." Looking annoyed, she asked herself why she was telling a complete stranger about this.

"As William Yeats said, "There are no strangers here Ms. Hajinmon, only friends you haven't yet met." Well, I guess we're friends now...If he didn't do anything wrong...Why say those things?"

"I just...don't understand why he chose another girl over me...I have come to his aid more times than anyone he's ever known. I understood what it was like to be hated, to work hard to be where we are now...Yet...Why didn't he choose me?"

"You feel betrayed and hurt by his choice?" asked Mrs. Rinko.

"More than you know. In my head, I thought to myself, "There's no way he'd fall for me. Fall for someone who's a child born of...bad circumstances." But as I got to know him...I thought, "Maybe I was wrong. I may finally have a chance." In the end, it was all for nothing. Even so, I wanted to stick by him, despite the pain. I was fine with just staying by his side, as a friend, but it only made my heart ache more. I wanted to move on, date others, but I could never do it. I felt disgusted by the thought of it...Eventually, I had it and left him, and I haven't seen him since..."

"I understand the feelings you have, not being the one he chose, but...why haven't you told him how you feel? Why not get over it by confessing your feelings in full? Girls who've gone through the same feelings as you get better once they confront the one they still love and pour their heart out."

"I'm...I'm sc-..." She couldn't say it. She couldn't tell them she was scared. Scared of the outcome of being honest with Naruto. She was used to not being honest. Clenching her teeth, she got up and left.

"Ayane!" Mr. Rinko stops Hotaruko, telling her to let her go. "But-"

"She needs space," her father told her. "Girls like her, who are stubborn, they don't forget. Right now, she just needs to reflect. Don't worry about her."

 **Train to Shibuya**

As she walked by herself, Ayane recalled her hesitation towards telling Mrs. Rinko more. The woman only wanted to help, yet she couldn't accept it. She was afraid of having herself exposed, to show the side of her no one would ever dare see. The only one who's ever seen her at her most vulnerable was "him." The only person she'd show her tears to. If anyone were to see this side of her...If she exposed more of that side...As she waited for her stop, she heard her phone ring. Looking at it, she saw Naruto calling her. Ayane simply left it ringing until it stopped.

 **Sainan Town, Japan**

 **Uzumaki Residence**

"Hey Ayane, it's Naruto again. As usual, I know you're ignoring me on purpose, for the 34th time...Which is...pretty creepy when I say it out loud...I don't understand why you're doing so, but...if it's something I've done...I'd like us to talk things through. Not on the phone...In person. I want to listen...I want to understand how you're feeling...Hinami's been asking for you. She misses you, every day, asking me if you were coming back whenever I come home. I find it difficult to give her a good answer, but I give her hope that she'll see you again. Hinami's turning 15 next month...She wants to invite you to her party...She's staying at Rito's since...I'm about to leave for a mission. I'm still recovering my powers from overusing it a month ago...Right now, Kirigiri has put me in charge of a squad, and they are something, from what I've read in their dossier...It's ridiculous, the random time intervals for when my full powers come back every time I go overboard...I won't be gone long since...Well, you know me...Again, when you're ready to talk...Let's set up a place to meet. I hope you listen to this and maybe...send a text or call back. If you listen to this, please delete the messages I recorded before this one, they're too embarrassing to listen to...I'll see you when you're able...Take care of yourself okay. I care about you...Bye." Naruto hung up, sighing before looking at the purple headband he gave Ayane. He had a sad expression on his face when he looked at it.

 **5 years ago**

"Here...I made this for you. It's...for your hair."

"You made that for me?" Naruto simply nods, telling Ayane how he had been working on it during his spare time.

"I know it's nothing that special, but-"

"No, it's fine...I'd like to try it on." Taking the headband, Ayane wears it around her head. Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at her. Noticing this, the blushing kunoichi asked him how it looked.

"It looks great on you," he told her, blushing, Ayane doing the same.

 **Now**

"This always did look great on you..." Clenching it tightly, Naruto wondered if the Hajinmon kunoichi was okay as he puts it in his pocket and left out the door, closing it shut and locking it.


	3. Chapter 2

**Naruto's suit is something of an original design, while I am bad at drawing, I put some work into it. The suit is mentioned in Naruto x High School DxD: OMEN. He also wields a pair of gauntlets that Ayane designed for him, which will be revealed in Naruto x BLEACH: HEROES UNITED, which has yet to be finished, to my dismay. They're based on the Assassin Gauntlet that Jacob Frye uses in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, hidden blade and all**.

* * *

 **Pacific Ocean**

 **Future Foundations Stealth Carrier**

Naruto loads an MMR Carbine w/ Pistol Grip and Suppressor as he sat with 8 soldiers, who were all wearing the newest ablative combat armor, courtesy of the Future Foundation. Looking at him, one soldier asked him if someone as strong as he needed a gun.

"Yes, I do. Until my powers return, I'm a mere human being who can heal a bit faster than you guys with those auto-repair installations in your armors," Naruto responds, getting up to inform the squad of their mission.

"Alright Erebus Squad, listen up. Two hours ago, one of our spies within Talon informed Kirigiri that a shipment of UltraTech arms was on its way to Japan, right before he was caught and put in the brig for interrogation. Our mission is to destroy these arms before they reach their destination. The ship is manned by Talon mercenaries, led in person by Akinjide Adeyemi, also known as Doomfist. He's our second target. We are to bring him in alive." The soldiers felt tense when the blond mentioned Doomfist.

"We're up against that guy!?" yelled one of the soldiers. "Why isn't Overwatch dealing with this? I mean-"

"Don't worry about Doomfist, this is why Naruto's in charge of us for this mission. He'll handle the big guy while we deal with those mercenaries. He'll make sure that everyone makes it back safely." Naruto was surprised when one of the soldiers calmed his fellow man down. He was a young American man in his 20s with wavy grey hair and yellow eyes.

"Uhhh thanks...What's your name?" The soldier introduced himself as Trent Masterson. "Trent huh, well thanks for telling him what I was going to say...Anywho, even if we wanted their help, Overwatch is occupied with another disaster to spare any agents, and they just got reinstated after being disbanded after so long. Just remember all the missions you've all survived up till now. I assure you, by the end of this, no man will be lost."

"We're nearing the UltraTech Ship," the pilot informed them. Opening the hangar doors, Naruto and his squad jump out. As they neared the back of the ship, they activate their parachutes. Seeing a couple of Talon mercenaries stationed on the second level, Naruto fires a single shot at both targets, the bullets penetrating their helmets as they go through their skulls. The blond and Erebus Squad quietly land before Naruto activates a holographic display of the ship on his left gauntlet.

"Alright, Trent and I will go rescue our spy, all of you split up and set the charges in these locations. If you come across any mercenaries, take them down immediately but quietly. They will not show any mercy, and neither should we. If you see Doomfist, do not engage, no matter what." Erebus Squad nods before they split up, Trent following Naruto, covering his six. Naruto shoots the Talon mercenary guarding the entrance to the lower levels of the ship before he and the young Erebus Squad member quietly go down the stairs.

Hearing a couple of feet moving towards them from behind, Trent turns around and shoots a surprised Talon mercenary, his body falling back onto the polished hardwood floor. Reaching the second floor, Naruto disarms and kills another Talon mercenary, using his hidden blade as Trent deals with the one on the right with a Ka-bar knife.

"The path splits two ways," said Trent.

"Alright, I take left, you go right." Trent nods as he and the blond split up. As they advanced, they took down a few more Talon mercenaries along the way as they got closer and closer to the brig, hearing the sound of fists being thrown, and laughter.

"Is that it? Out of steam already? Hours of nonstop roughhousing and you still get nothing out of me. You should probably hire a new bad cop Doomfist." In the brig, a bruised and bloodied man spat out blood before letting out a chuckle. He was in his 60s and had black hair that was greying on the sides, he wore a grey t-shirt that had some of his blood on it and a pair of Talon combat pants. In front of him was a stoic Doomfist, standing next to a tired Talon Mercenary.

"You're pathetic, so are you Doomie. Why let these "girls" handle an interrogation like this?"

"Hmph, you've been through a lot in your tenure if you can survive injuries like those and move your mouth at your age," Doomfist told the man. "For that, I shall end you personally."

 ** _"Naruto, he's going to-"_**

"I know, I won't let him."

 _ **"Boss, the charges have been set."**_ Before Doomfist could kill the man, Naruto told Erebus Squad to light up the charges. Following it, explosions rocked the ship as Doomfist looked up and wondered what was going on. Quickly, Naruto rolls out of cover and kills the Talon mercenary next to Doomfist before unloading the entire clip at the Talon Leader himself, who simply blocks the bullets with his gauntlet. With Doomfist distracted, Trent quickly frees the man, who asks him, "What the hell took you?"

"Hey, just be glad we stopped him from turning your face into squash," said Trent as he helped him out of the room as Naruto runs out of bullets.

"Naruto Uzumaki..."

"Oh, you heard of me? Should I be happy that a man like you knows me?"

"The Hero of the Fourth Great Ninja War. Talon has been keeping tabs on you. Like me, you've gotten stronger from the many conflicts you've fought in and survived till now. Why fight for peace? Why fight for something that makes humanity weak? That makes you weak?"

"I'm fine as I am. Besides, someone has to defend those who can't fight. You have gifts that can help save lives, yet you use it to create conflicts that take them," Naruto spoke, narrowing his eyes at him. "I don't agree with your ideals, which is why I'm bringing you in."

"You can try..." Doomfist fires a short-range burst from the knuckles of his fist. The blond's gun gets destroyed, disarming him as he performs a dodge roll to avoid the second shot before kicking himself off the floor, launching himself towards the Talon leader, performing a forward somersault with his legs outstretched, kicking Doomfist in the chest. However, he doesn't flinch from the attack, though a small trickle of blood flows down the Talon Leader's mouth from the force of the kick. Naruto's eyes widen at that moment, knowing he fucked up.

"Oh no..." Doomfist grabs Naruto's head with his left hand before kneeing him in the stomach.

"OOF!" Doomfist throws him up in the air before performing a rising uppercut, Naruto crashing through the ceiling. The two land on the front of the ship's deck, in the middle of a gunfight between Erebus Squad and Talon mercenaries.

"I was looking to fight you, Naruto Uzumaki. I heard you were strong. Was the information I got wrong?"

"Please, the fight just started. I simply didn't put my back into that attack is all..." said Naruto, a smirk on his face. "I do admit, you are strong. You might give Bass Armstrong a run for his money..." Doomfist lunges forward with a rocket punch, only to miss when Naruto moves out of the way. The blond then turns around counterclockwise before kicking Doomfist in the face. This time it was stronger, to the Talon Leader's surprise. Recovering, Doomfist punched the ground to stop himself from falling back.

"Told you, ya know..." The Talon leader fires three shots at the blond with his hand cannon, only to have them miss as Naruto ran at him at near-superhuman speeds. Observing Naruto's movements, Doomfist puts his right arm forward to block his left punch before bringing his left fist down on him. Naruto jumped back a bit, reacting fast enough to catch his opponent's right punch and throw him over his shoulder, slamming him onto the floor.

Doomfist rolls out of the way to avoid Naruto's left stomp, sweeping him off his feet with a kick and performing a seismic slam. Naruto puts his arms forward in a cross block as Doomfist's attack connects, sending them crashing into the second floor as they fall, Naruto and Doomfist exchange a few punches before the former caught his right fist in his left hand and threw his right fist forward, punching him in the face. Naruto then used the Talon leader as a cushion for the fall. Before Naruto could throw his left punch, Doomfist sent him flying off him with his right fist. The blond lands safely on his feet as he prepared to fight his opponent.

Slowly walking at first, the two pick up speed as they ran at each other. Doomfist throws his right fist forward, the blond putting his arms forward to block it, repelling the Talon leader and punching him with his right fist and blocking Doomfist's right kick with his left arm before jumping up and kneeing him in the chin and kicking him back with both feet, performing a backflip and landing as his opponent falls on his back, getting back up after.

Doomfist performs another rocket punch, Naruto rolling out of the way to avoid the attack. He then activates the hidden blade in his left gauntlet and thrusts it forward. However, the Talon leader catches him by the wrist and applies some force into it, breaking the ninja's arm.

"AHHH!"

Letting go of Naruto's wrist, Doomfist then punched him hard in the face with his right fist, knocking him down. Naruto struggles to get up as Doomfist approach the blond.

"It's over...you've lost..."

"It's over...once I make it so!" Naruto throws a shuriken at the Talon leader, who simply catches it in between his left pointing and middle fingers. The shuriken opens, revealing light panels that flash in front of the surprised Doomfist, blinding him. Getting up, Naruto lands a right uppercut on him before punching him with his left fist, ignoring the pain. He then grabs Doomfist's head and headbutts him, knocking him down. Quickly, Naruto starts punching at him repeatedly in the face with his right fist until it starts getting bruised, with minor scratches. With one last punch, Naruto knocked him out. Getting up, the blond pants, having used up his energy on the last-minute assault.

 _ **"Naruto, this is Trent. All Talon mercenaries have been eliminated. What about you?"**_

"All done here. I just finished knocking the hell out of Doomfist," Naruto informed Trent, who voiced how surprised he was that the shinobi was able to beat him without any enhancements. "The guy's jaw is very tough. Think I have a hairline fracture in my right hand...Prepare the containment cell in the carrier, and send some of the guys down to pick up Doomfist."

 **2 hours later**

 **Tokyo, Japan**

 **Future Foundation Headquarters**

As Erebus Squad celebrates their mission's success, Naruto and Kirigiri watched as Doomfist was about to be taken away by Overwatch soldiers. Naruto's left cheek was bandaged, and his left hand was put in a cast.

"I will get out. I assure you, no prison can keep me contained for long," Doomfist spoke to Naruto.

"Maybe, but I'll be ready to send you back if you ever set foot in Japan." The Talon leader looked amused when the blond said that to him, saying nothing as he entered the carrier jet that would take him to America to face his crimes.

"This is a huge victory. You managed to not only capture the leader of Talon, but you were successfully able to destroy one of the shipments," Kirigiri said.

"One of them?" Kirigiri tells Naruto how another shipment of UltraTech weapons managed to slip under their noses. "That doesn't make me feel better."

"Maybe, but at least half of the shipment didn't make it to its destination. We're still trying to locate it. It may take some time, bs soon as we have a lead, we'll let you know."

"Thanks..." he told Kirigiri before turning around and heading towards the mess hall to meet up with Erebus Squad. Entering, he sees the team celebrating out loud as they drink large mugs of beer.

"Whoa, what's the occasion?" Trent goes over to Naruto and tells him the man they rescued, who was their leader, was retiring. "Retiring?"

"Yes, retiring." said the man as he finished his beer and walked towards him. "Ray Peters, nice to meet you," he said, offering a handshake. Naruto lightly smiles and shakes the man's hand. "I've been leading this team for 28 years. Tonight was my last mission...Thank you, for the rescue, and for making sure these men came back alive."

"No problem Ray...So with you retiring, who'll be leading the squad?" Ray tells Naruto his successor was standing next to them before the latter turns to Trent.

"You?"

"Yeah..."

"Believe it or not, Trent is one of the most capable and reliable soldiers I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Perfect scores, fast track record, and tough as nails. If you need anything, Trent's your guy. He works part-time as a policeman at Kamurocho."

"Kamurocho, huh...Well, Trent, I look forward to working with you...When you need me of course."

"Same here. If you need anything, I'd be glad to help. Now if you'll excuse me, this mug needs filling," Trent responds before going for another beer.

"So...What do you have in mind? Plan-wise...For your retirement." Ray tells Naruto he planned to spend more time with his wife and kids, adding the part where their anniversary was in a few days, with plans to go to Europe. "I see...Your wife will be glad to hear that."

"What about you? Do you have a girl waiting for you at home?" asked Ray.

"Yeah, she's...my niece."

"What, no girlfriend?" Naruto tensed a bit when Ray said, girlfriend.

"Girlfriend...None...Don't think I'm allowed to have those." His answer surprised Ray as Naruto formed a sad look on his face.

"A good-looking kid like you? Wow, thought I'd seen it all. By now most of your friends have someone," Ray adds, Naruto not denying it. "Is there a girl you have in mind at least?" Naruto immediately thinks of Ayane after hearing the question.

"There is one girl, but...she doesn't want to see me," he told Ray.

"Wow, you must've done something very wrong to her to make her feel that way." Putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder, he told him, "Whoever she is, she must be something if you're acting like this."

"She is...but she doesn't know..." he told the now-retired Erebus soldier.

"Well, as a man, you have the responsibility to find her, and make amends."

"If I CAN find her..."

"You will...You're not one to give up. I can tell just by looking at your sad mug." Naruto tells Ray he wasn't wrong there before the latter offered him a beer. "Oh, I can't drink."

 **Sainan Town**

 **Yuuki Residence**

Ringing the doorbell, Naruto waits for a bit until Rito opens, surprised to see the blond all bandaged up.

"Naruto? What happened?" Naruto smiles a bit, telling his cousin he beat up a bully a few hours ago, and that he was tougher than expected. "I see...Are you here to pick up Hinami?"

"Yeah..."

"Sorry Naruto, but she's asleep." Rito tells him Lala and Momo helped her with her homework, and that as soon as they finished, Hinami fell asleep on the couch.

"I see...Do you mind if I crash here? I'm not...used to sleeping in a house alone." Rito tells him it was okay for him to sleepover, telling him he was family. "Thanks..." Naruto and Rito walk over to the living room to see Hinami resting, a blue blanket over her.

"Thanks for looking over her whenever I'm out. It's asking for a lot but-"

"It's fine. I'm okay with helping you out... Hinami's a very good person to have around..."

 _"Ayane-san..."_ Naruto's eyes widen when Hinami muttered the girl's name in her sleep. This made Naruto sad, something Rito noticed.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" Rito asked.

"...I'd be lying if I said I was... I just got a lot on my plate as it is, that's all. I'll stay with Hinami, you can go head to bed."

"Okay...Goodnight, Naruto." Before Rito goes up, he tells Naruto he was coming to Hinami's birthday, along with Mikan, Lala, Momo, Nana, and Celine.

"Thanks for letting me know." As Rito heads upstairs to his room, Naruto walks over to Hinami and holds her hand before falling asleep.

 **Five-Story Tower**

"What do you mean half the shipment didn't make it!?" yelled Kouta, slamming his fist down on his desk drawer beside his bed.

 _ **"As I said, the Talon mercenaries UltraTech hired to deliver the shipment was attacked by the Future Foundation."**_

"What if they trace the equipment here!? My revenge against the Tojo Clan is coming up, and I can't assault them with only half a shipment!" Kouta adds.

 ** _"Calm down, if that happened, we wouldn't be having this phone call. In fact, I should be the one who's upset, having wasted money on half a shipment that was lost for your selfish desires of revenge."_** Kouta tensed when his benefactor told him that, sounding angry. _**"Be grateful that the Yomei Alliance doesn't give you up to the Tojo Clan."**_

 **Yuuki Residence**

Naruto was in the middle of making breakfast for everyone in the Yuuki household as they come downstairs, one by one. Finished with the omelets, he plates them before focusing on the breakfast sausages and toast.

"You didn't have to make breakfast for us Naruto."

"It's the least I can do for letting Hinami stay over," Naruto told Rito as the latter and the girls sat down at the table and thanked the blond for the food. When Mikan asked if he needed to get home to focus on his new novel, Naruto told her he was far ahead, and that he'll work on it when he can. He was having trouble writing the last three chapters of the book. After Ayane left, Naruto found himself having writer's block. The deadline was a month from now, a day before Hinami's birthday, so he had time to try and figure things out...hopefully.

 _"Hopefully..."_

 **On the way to Hinami's school**

Hinami looked at Naruto as he walked her to school. She felt a bit nervous, wondering if she should ask him about the Hajinmon kunoichi. Taking notice, Naruto asked her if something was troubling her.

"...No..."

"It's okay Hinami, I won't be mad..."

"...Do you...miss Ayane-san?" Though silent at first, Naruto answered with a yes. He then asked Hinami why she was afraid to ask him. "You made it look like you didn't want to talk about her."

"That doesn't mean I don't want to talk about her..." He told his niece, sounding calm.

"...I miss her too."

"I know..." When asked if he thought Ayane missed her, putting on an assuring smile, Naruto told her he thinks Ayane missed her too. This makes Hinami happy, who tells her nephew she liked her. "I know..."

After dropping Hinami off, Naruto took a train to Shibuya to grab some new supplies for the Icha Icha manga series he was adapting based on Jiraiya's novels. Looking through the bag to make sure everything was there, Naruto had a small satisfied look on his face.

"What's next..."

"Naruto?" Turning to his left, Naruto's eyes widen when he sees Haru looking at him, who was equally surprised to see him. Recalling their steamy one-night stand a month ago, the night after The Phantom Thieves, The Investigation Team, and S.E.E.S. finally put a stop to Erebus and saved Makoto Yuki **(METAVERSE)** , the two turned bright red in the face. Naruto still remembered how hot she was when she wore the virgin killer sweater for that occasion.

"Oh, Haru...It's been a while."

"Y-Yeah it has...How's your sex- I mean, how have you been?"

"I've been pretty busy with writing lately...Right now I'm running errands for today. You?" A bit nervous, she told him they should continue the talk over coffee.

 **Reissue (That's an actual coffee place)**

"How's your second year in college?" asked Naruto, the waitress setting down their respective cups of coffee before leaving.

"It's going well. I've kept my grades up as usual, being in the top 10, and the professors like me." Naruto tells her to make sure they're not doing so in order to get something in return. "That you don't have to worry about. Makoto takes some courses with me so she keeps an eye on me." Turning red, Haru thanks Naruto for helping with investing money for her cafe.

"It's the least I could do...Your father would be proud of you for making your own choices." The Okumura girl smiled as she and her former crush sipped their cups of coffee. "How's Morgana? Now that he found out how to change into a Human at will."

"Oh, he's doing really well as a first-year at Shujin." Naruto voiced how surprised he was that Morgana turned out handsome, and his voice wasn't so childish in the form. "He's really enjoying being human...But enough about me. What about you? Have you reconciled with that Ayane girl you told me about?"

"...No...She's masked her energy from me, and she hasn't returned any of my calls." Naruto looked unhappy, even miserable to Haru, despite putting up a strong front as they spoke.

"Mind talking to me about it?"

"...Haru...Do you think I'm deserving of a girlfriend?" Haru looked surprised by his question. "Ayane...I'm in love with her...but I feel...too undeserving of her," he told the Okumura heiress. "She doesn't need someone like me, no matter how I feel about her, and no matter how much I want her."

"Don't say that Naruto. You deserve someone special just like other people," Haru assured the blond.

"Me? A guy like me? Who has already had sex with several girls **(Hinata, Moka, Mizore, Xenovia, Hisui E. Fiore, Airi (Queen's Blade), Alleyne (Queen's Blade), Haru, Tsugumi, Yumi)** , deserves someone special like other people?" Haru reminds him that she wanted him and that she didn't mind. "That's what they all say..."

"You're being too hard on yourself when it's not necessary. I know you enough to tell whether you're lying or not, and you're not one to lie unless it's for a good reason," Looking up at Haru, he thanks her for making him feel a little bit better. "Don't beat yourself up, okay?"

"For you, I will try."

"When you find her, and IF you and Ayane do get together, you think I can meet her?" Naruto tells her she'd be the second person to see her, after Hinami.

"I look forward to it...Oh!" Haru exclaimed, a smile on her face. Naruto wondered what Haru was up to as she took a pair of tickets out of her pocket. "A friend of my father's gave me three tickets to watch some cars racing at the Fuji Speedway tonight. Why not come with me? You can bring Hinami with."

"Thanks, I'll pick her up and meet up with you after a visit to the car shop in Kamurocho." When asked what for, he told her it was a secret.

 **Kamurocho**

 **Sal and Lorenzo's**

Naruto walks into the garage as an American tanned, muscular man in his 50s greets him. He was 2 cm taller than him, had black frizzy hair that connected with his small beard, and wore a red t-shirt that was dirty with grease under his overalls.

"Hey, Sal."

"Naruto!" The man known as Sal shooks the blond's hand with his greasy right hand, though Naruto didn't mind the grease. "You here to-"

"Yeah, I'm here to see "her"...Where's Lorenzo?" A lean young American man in his 20s, who wore the same thing Sal wore, comes out from under a white Honda Civic Type R he just finished repairing. "Hey!"

"Hey Naruto, you here for "her?" Naruto nods before asking them if it's finished. "Almost..." Following the two, Naruto waits as they pull out the covers to show him a customized purple **Ferrari 250 GTO**. Naruto lets out a whistle as he looked at it.

"She looks great," said a smiling Naruto.

"I was wondering what was underneath that sheet." Turning around, Naruto is surprised to see a young Japanese man who looked to be the same age as Lorenzo. He had short spiky dyed blue hair and green eyes. His attire consisted of a grey t-shirt over a red leather jacket with black and white stripes going down the right side of its sleeve, along with a pair of long black jeans and brown shoes. "That beaut must be yours."

"No, it's-...I mean I paid these guys a lot of money to have it made since they do requests for building cars out of scratch. It's for someone else." When asked if it was for a girl, the blond asked how he knew. "Purple doesn't look good on you, no offense."

"None taken...Who are you?" Sal and Lorenzo had shocked expressions on their faces when Naruto asked the man.

"You don't know Aiko Nakumura!?" the two mechanics yelled.

"No, I don't." Sal tells Naruto that Aiko, the man in front of them, was a professional race car driver. "He is? What brings him here?"

"Just checking out my car for tonight. Have a big race to win." When Naruto asked if it was at the Fuji Speedway, he responds with a yes before Sal asked him how he knew.

"A friend of mine gave me a couple of tickets to go."

"Will it be your first time going to one?" asked Aiko.

"Yeah..." Sal and Lorenzo jump into the conversation, telling the blond they were a part of his pit crew. "Oh, I can see why," Naruto told them, looking at all the repaired cars in the oversized garage. Some of them he remembered were in bad shape before Sal and Lorenzo worked on them. "Since I'm here, how about you show me this race car of yours?"

"Right this way. It's out in the back," said Sal as Lorenzo, Naruto, and Aiko followed behind. As they approached, they noticed 3 unnamed men in black suits sabotaging it.

"Hey! What the hell are you three doing!?" yelled Sal. Being caught in the act, the three run off to their black car as Sal, Lorenzo, and Aiko check on the damage. As the three men made their getaway, Naruto feels some of his power returning.

"They won't go far." With a single step, he quickly appears in front of the car the three men were making their getaway in and stops it by bringing his now-healed left fist down, destroying the front of their car and his cast, and activating the airbags. Ripping the car doors open, Naruto throws the three out one by one and used the destroyed car's bumper to wrap them up before bringing them back to the shop, surprising Sal, Lorenzo, and Aiko.

"Whoa...I never thought that you, of all people, had a Quirk, Naruto." The blond tells Lorenzo he doesn't have a Quirk, and that it was complicated before focusing on the three men in suits, who were scared for their lives.

"Why did you vandalize Aiko's car?" Naruto asked, an expression on his face that told the men if they didn't respond, he was going to hurt them in ways they've never been hurt before, pulling out a flathead screwdriver and threatening to remove their nails with it, Sal noting how dark he was.

"We...We were paid to do it!" When Aiko asked who paid them, one of the men said, "Your brother." Aiko looked shocked, then angry as he slammed his fist on the ruined race car, Naruto, Sal, and Lorenzo looking at him.

"Your brother?" Sal informs the blond that Aiko's younger brother, Yuno, was the head of Nakumura Shipping International, a company specializing in the importing and exporting of goods. "Why would he do this?" Thinking about it, Aiko looked at the calendar.

"Of course...Every year he does shit like this!"

"I don't follow," said Naruto. Turning to Sal and Lorenzo, he asked them if they could repair the car before the race, the two telling them it was possible if they got started now." As Aiko drives off to handle some family business, Naruto decides to call the police to pick up the three men in suits. Before he could make the call, he gets a call from Kirigiri. Picking up, Naruto responds with a simple, "Hello?"

 ** _"Naruto, are you in Kamurocho?"_**

"Yeah, why?" Kirigiri tells him of a lead on the UltraTech shipment.

 _ **"One of our men overheard someone named Hayashi talking to his men about a shipment that came last night that would help eliminate rivals. I need you to get answers from him."**_ Naruto sighed before telling Kirigiri of his plans for tonight. **_"If you want, I can have Mukuro-"_**

"No, it's fine. I can go find this Hayashi guy, though I'll have to ask someone to take my spot for tonight."

 ** _"I'll make it up to you once this matter is dealt with."_**

 **Sainan Town**

 **Hinami's School**

"Hello, Hinami," said Yui Kotegawa, waving at the girl as she approached her, Hinami asking where Naruto was. "Naruto had to go work at the last second." This made the girl sad when the Sainan High girl told her the reason the blond wasn't here to pick her up.

"I understand, I just wished he told me..."

"...Hey, do you like to see fast cars?" Yui asked with a smile, Hinami looking up at her as the former pulled out two tickets. "Naruto gave us two tickets to go watch some racing. Let's go together, okay Hinami?"

"Okay..." Hinami responds, still sounding sad as Yui sweats a bit, unsure of whether she'd be able to make sure the girl was in high spirits.

 **Kyushu Ichiban Boshi Ramen Shop**

"A large bowl of Pork Rib Ramen please." The chef tells Ayane he'll get started on her order before she thanked him and waited for her meal to be served.

"Ayane!?" Turning to her left, she sees Hotaruko approaching her. "What a surprise! I was just wondering when I'd see you again!"

"Oh great..." said Ayane as she facepalmed herself. Sitting on the seat on Ayane's left, the girl orders the same thing Ayane was having before telling her how it was the shop's specialty. "I don't care."

"Come on Ayane, you can't tell me that you're not the least bit interested in what it tastes like." Hearing this, Ayane remembers the time she and Naruto had ramen together the night Sasuke decided to leave the village.

 **5 years ago**

 **Konohagakure**

 **Ramen Ichiraku**

"Ayane!?" Turning around, the kunoichi's face turned red, having been caught by Naruto as she prepared to order the ramen Old Man Teuchi perfected, after returning from his "food journey", that he only served at night.

"So you're here to try his new ramen huh?" asked Naruto, Ayane telling him she didn't know what he was talking about. "Come on Ayane, you were there when I was reporting for Grandma Tsunade. You can't tell me that you don't know, or that you're not the least bit interested in what it tastes like."

"...Okay, I was going to order it. It sounded interesting when you said he only served it at night."

"It's strange, though. Old Man Teuchi said he was going to only serve it to me, yet here you are, being allowed to eat it." Ayane looked away when she told him the old man recognized her as the girl his daughter, Ayame, told him about. "That explains it. Mind if I sit with you?"

"Do whatever you want," she told him, sounding annoyed as the blond smiled at her and took a seat on her right. As Naruto sat down, Ayane's heart pounded.

"Ramen like the one we're about to have tastes better when you eat it with someone, especially during a time like this when I need to keep my spirits up." When Ayane asked what happened, he told her about his fight at the hospital between him and Sasuke, a fight that had Naruto completely dominating the Uchiha, hurting his teammate's pride.

"...If you don't mind...I can listen to what you have to say while we eat." Naruto thanked Ayane before she said, in a shy manner, "N-No problem..."

 **Kyushu Ichiban Boshi Ramen Shop**

"Fine, I was actually interested in trying the ramen this shop's so proud of," Ayane admits, earning a smile from Hotaruko.

"I can vouch for the shop and say that the Pork Rib Ramen is to die for, not literally, of course," she joked as Ayane simply said nothing. "Oh, while I'm here..." Reaching into her purse, she showed the Hajinmon kunoichi the tickets her father got from his job to go check out the races at the Fuji Speedway tonight. "I heard that Bass Armstrong's daughter Tina will be one of the racers." Ayane facepalmed when she heard Tina's name.

"A pro wrestler, a model, an actress, and a rock star. Now she's a race car driver?" When asked why she wasn't going with her father, Hotaruko told her he had to work late, and that her mom was out with some friends.

"Please..."

"...It'd be a shame to have that ticket go to waste." The girl formed a happy smile on her face as Ayane agreed to watch the car racing with her. "Oh, it'll be so fun! I also hear that Aiko Nakumura is going to be in it too. From what my friends have told me, he is really hot."

"Oh, so you've reconciled with them?" Hotaruko happily nods as their bowls of pork rib ramen are set down in front of them. As they dug in, Naruto unknowingly walked past the restaurant the girls were in, having finished dropping off the three men in suits.

 **Unnamed Alley**

A man in his 40s slams a gangster's head into a vending machine before stopping to see all the men he fought lying on the ground, wearing slimmed-down shoulder pads, gauntlets, armored boots and chest plates that were based on the designs of the Fulgore II Units. The man had pulled-back black hair and wore a light-grey blazer and pants with a maroon shirt **(Kazuma Kiryu)**. Hearing a pair of footsteps, he turns around to see Naruto standing in front of him.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto and the man asked at the same time.

* * *

 **Next chapter will focus on Naruto and Kazuma's efforts in finding Hayashi. Trent and Ellis will also have a small focus, along with Aiko and Yuno, and Hinami and Ayane.**

 **Ayane and Hotaruko will continue to be acquainted with one another as the story continues. Hotaruko's role is very important, mainly involving Ayane's capture, though it's vulnerable to changes.**

 **This may have a total of 7 or 10 chapters by the end of it, along with some extras involving several epilogues. There will also be a separate chapter after Vulnerable Butterfly.**

 **Yes, Naruto has fought Doomfist. I figured an organization like Talon would be perfect for setting up Naruto's involvement with finding Kouta.**

 **Regarding what UltraTech has that makes their weapons dangerous, stuff happened in Journey to Now Part II, involving UltraTech, a machine named Proto-Fulgore, and lots of ninja data gathering, along with vampire data, and more. This allowed UltraTech to invent ways to fight ninjas. They also had some help with remnants of the Red Ribbon Army, though that's a story for another time.**

 **For Haru, this takes place after Persona 5 The Royal, Persona 5 Scramble, and METAVERSE. Haru's on her second year at college, along with one Makoto Nijima. Noir, as you know, also had a fling with Naruto, though it was for one night, and that she initiated it.**

 **With Naruto's sex life, I felt that him having these flings with other girls was mainly due to the thought that he was undeserving of Ayane and undeserving of any relationship, whether it's Moka, Tsugumi, or Haru.**

 **Reason for Yui being in the story, she and Ayane got along pretty well, having bonded over talking about cats. She also understands Ayane's feelings, being in the same pinch as her, since she (Yui) is in love with Rito.**

 **There was a scene where Naruto walked home with Yui and they had a talk about Ayane, but I scrapped that since I felt the next chapter may benefit her appearance to the story.**

 **There was also a scene where Naruto was going to ask Hinami why she liked Ayane, the girl telling him how Ayane would visit her whenever he wasn't home, surprising him. It would be based on Piccolo and Gohan's relationship, which I found fits so well with the small dynamics between Hinami and Ayane.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Okay, for those wanting FIREBRAND, Road to Journey to Now or Journey to Now Part I, I am taking a bit of a hiatus on it, mainly because I want to focus on this story and (maybe) a one-shot. Once I am done with this one, I will get back to writing for those series, so please be patient.**

 **The reason for doing this is because crossovers between Naruto and Dead or Alive are rarely made. And even when they are, they are left unfinished, and very unfulfilling. I also hate that the main pairing is mostly of Naruto and Kasumi, or that Naruto has a Sharingan. If I see Naruto having a Sharingan, it's not Naruto to me. I feel that Ayane is left in the dark or plays second fiddle. I also think that no one compares her story with Naruto's and has ever attempted to make a story between the two. I have only seen one story with them getting together, but that's in a Ninja Gaiden crossover, which I like. There was a second one, but that has been deleted by the writer for reasons unknown. Fortunately, I managed to save the story in my notes. While it was a one-shot, it was a satisfying read.**

 **With DOAXVV out and Dead or Alive 6 coming next month, it'd be nice to see more crossover stories with Naruto and Dead or Alive with a story that's both entertaining, engaging, and more.**

 **Also, after looking at some DOA6 images on Twitter, I am fearing for Ayane's safety. Sure she's a fictional character, but I have a lot of care for her and hope that Team Ninja does not kill her, after making it this far since the first Dead or Alive game. Something also tells me that she will be central in the story of the upcoming game.**

* * *

 **I feel that I should put this into detail, to help understand our Hajinmon kunoichi (Hopefully):**

 **For Ayane, I feel that she can't be honest with how she feels or express them. She is so used to not showing her true feelings, after finding out about her true parentage by Ayame, her mother, that it was a norm for her. Same thing for Naruto. It was by meeting the blond that Ayane had someone she can express herself to, Naruto finding himself changing as well in the form of Kureha.** **Ayane will not show what she considers a "weakness" to anyone, not even her sister, well at least until their relationship changes in the 4th, 5th, and 6th installments.**

 **I had based this relationship they have, which I officially dub, NaruAya, on the manga/anime series Domestic na Kanojo, something I had stumbled across this year, and it is a huge collection of emotions and drama, and I love it, especially the character Rui Tachibana, whom I based a part of Ayane's feelings on.**

 **Vegeta was also another basis for Ayane, like how she loves Naruto and had thought about being more expressive with her love, but her former distant nature began to disagree with this, making Ayane feel weak, even ashamed of the change within her. She also feels** **useless, as well as obsolete to Naruto, after he gains so much power after the Fourth Great Ninja War.**

* * *

 **Regarding Naruto unable to use his powers and the time intervals, this is mainly due to Naruto using his overall powers, Six Paths Sage Mode, Sage Mode, Ki Energy, Magic, and "another power I have yet to show off in any story", in a reckless manner, meaning if there was an enemy that required him to go over these limits, he pushes himself too hard, tiring after. The time intervals range from 3 days to a month. The first time he used his overall abilities recklessly, he had to wait up to almost three years to receive them again, and this is in Part II of Journey to Now.**

 **I based this little drawback from Goku's use of Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken and Izuku Midoriya's previous use of One-For-All before he was able to control it a bit.**

 **As Naruto gets older, the time interval drawbacks will happen less, eventually going away.**

* * *

 **[気持ちの整理出来るまで (** **Until you can organize your feelings)** **by Maiko Fujita]**

 **An hour ago**

 **Tokyo**

 **Nakumura Shipping Inc. Building**

 _ **"Nakumura-san, you have a visitor. He says he's your older brother."**_ Stopping his pen, the head of Nakumura Shipping tells his secretary to let him in. The man had slicked back brown hair and green eyes and wore a black business suit with a blue tie. Aiko pushed the doors open with enough force to make a loud sound that echoed the office as he approached his brother and slammed his hands on the table.

"You have some nerve to pull a stunt like that, especially during an important day for me!" he told Yuno, anger in his eyes and his voice.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he told Aiko.

"Cut the shit, I know you sent men to sabotage my car so I wouldn't be able to race tonight! They confessed to it! Do you really hate me that much to do this every year?" Yuno puts away his pen before getting up and walking towards the window, looking down at the city.

"You know the answer. After all, you're the reason I'm sitting on that chair, and father's not," said Yuno, sounding calm. "You're the one who killed our father. All because YOU ran out on him because you wanted to live like some king with no responsibilities because YOU wanted to drive."

"You don't think I feel bad about it?" said Aiko. "I recall that night, every time I close my eyes. Every time I get on the wheel...Yes, I was a piece of shit back then, but that was the past. It doesn't give you the right to ruin my life every single day a year. I should report you to the police for trying to sabotage me."

"And what physical proof do you have that connects the crime to me?" he asked his older brother, turning to face him.

"One of them told me that you hired him and two others to wreck my car. Those three are with the police as we speak. After I'm done with my race, I will see you in court."

"You would put me on trial? Your little brother? I feel betrayed." Aiko said nothing as he turned and left. As soon as he was gone, Yuno made a phone call.

 **Kamurocho Police Station**

Ellis' eyes shot wide open as Naruto presents him with the three men in suits, tied together using a bent car bumper.

"You carried them like that...all the way here?" Naruto responds with a, "Sure did", as Trent enters and greets Naruto. "You know this guy?"

"Met him last night. Became pretty good friends after. What brings you here?" Looking at the scared men, Naruto tells Trent they were sabotaging a car belonging to a driver for tonight's race. "I see, well don't worry, Ellis and I will handle it."

"Thanks, I owe you one." The Erebus soldier tells him he didn't owe him anything, and that having people like the ones he brought in arrested to face justice is all he needs. Naruto smiles as he shakes his hand, Ellis watching from the sidelines, envying his partner's selflessness.

"Can I talk to Trent here, Mr..."

"Kayden."

"Right." Ellis allows Naruto to have some time with Trent, who tells him to put the men in a cell.

 **Waiting Room**

Entering, Naruto uses a device to temporarily shut off the surveillance cameras.

"Listen, I need you to be my eyes and ears in the police. Let me know if anything involving anyone with UltraTech weaponry comes up. Inform me of any information you obtain. Can you do it?" Trent tells Naruto he can count on him. "Another thing. It's...personal."

"How personal?" Naruto tells him about Ayane, and that if she happens to come to the station, let him know about it, telling him he can't find her on his own, and that if she comes up, whether it's in person, radio chatter, or anything, let him know. "She has short purple hair, and red eyes, same age as me."

"Personal stuff like finding this Ayane girl, that's not free for me. I WILL ask you for something in return." When asked what he wanted, Trent turned red and told him he wanted a special backstage concert pass to go see ClariS, surprising Naruto about how trivial it was.

"That's it? Why haven't you bought them yet? They're almost sold out," Trent tells him he spent most of his hard-earned money on Comiket. "So you work to support your hobbies, huh...Very well, I can get you a ticket right away," Naruto told him, Trent thanking him.

"If I see or hear from her, I'll let you know as soon as possible."

"Thank you, I'm counting on you."

 **Now**

 **Unnamed Alleyway**

"What's with that getup? Are you some sort of cosplayer for justice?" asked the man, Naruto telling him it was his work clothes, and that it provided protection and more.

"Hmm...You look familiar..." Observing the man closely, Naruto's eyes widen when he realized who he was. "You...You're Kazuma Kiryu **(EN: Darryl Kurylo)**!"

"You've heard of me?" Naruto tells him how Jiraiya based a novel off of a former Yakuza he knew, intriguing the man known as Kazuma Kiryu. "I remember that man. Yeah, he sells those ridiculous books of his. Icha Icha was the series if I recall. Heard it's gotten more interesting after a new writer took charge." Naruto shocks him when he reveals that he's the new writer. "At your age?"

"Oh, now you're surprised..." Looking at the unconscious bodies, Naruto checks out the tech, confirming it as being manufactured by UltraTech. "I'm impressed. For a guy who's almost in his 40s, you managed to handle these guys pretty well despite their advanced exosuits and weapons."

"They were just overconfident men playing with toys. They didn't even put up a good fight," he told the blond. With a sigh, Naruto texts Trent and informs him of some gangsters he found beat up in an alley before putting away his phone.

"Any idea on who these guys belong to?" Naruto asked the Dragon of Dojima, who tells him that he didn't know who they were associated with. "They only told me that their boss wanted me disposed of since he saw me as a threat."

"Know of anyone who has beef with you?" Kazuma tells him he has several who have beef with him. "Hmmm, I guess I can narrow the search by finding Hayashi and interrogating him." Turning to Kazuma, he tells him, "Think you can help me out, Kiryu-san?"

"Having been dragged into this, and seeing these men armed to the teeth, it spells major trouble for everyone in this city. However..." Looking at Naruto, he asked him if a kid his age should be out fighting gangsters. Naruto tells him he could handle himself and to not worry.

"If you say so...All we need to do is find this Hayashi guy?"

"Yeah... "Turning to the unconscious men on the ground, Kazuma asks Naruto where they should start. Going over to one of the men, Naruto takes out the power core of one of the men's exosuits and scans it with his gauntlet.

"Simple, we're going to hunt down every single person who is armed with this tech and beat the crap out of them for information on Hayashi. With my scanner, it will detect the energy output the power cores give out." Kazuma tells him that sounds like a plan. "Glad to hear it. Now, let's go hunting."

 **Club Shine**

Entering the club, all eyes went on Naruto and Kazuma as gangsters in UltraTech exosuits that were seated at several tables get up, their weapons were drawn, ranging from energy katanas, electric chains, and energy rifles. Aware that something was about to go down, the customers and employees all leave the club in a rush. Naruto and Kazuma crack their fists at the same time as they prepare to fight.

 **Okumura Foods Limo**

"Thanks for giving us a ride, Okumura-senpai." Haru tells them it was no trouble at all before telling Yui to call her Haru-chan, a smile on her face.

"So Naruto had to go work?" Yui responds with a yes, telling her it sounded urgent. Hearing this, Hinami looked down, sad. "Hey, Hinami-chan? Let's have fun okay?" she told her, a smile on her face as the young girl looked at her.

"Sorry, Haru...I must be ruining the mood for-"

"It's fine. I know how much you miss Naruto. Knowing him, he'd want you to have fun. Listen, how about I buy you a large popcorn and drink while we watch the races?" Thinking about it, Hinami asked if instead of popcorn, they had nachos. "Of course. I'll buy the biggest size for us to share."

"Extra cheese?" Haru nods yes to her, making her smile a bit. Seeing how cute she was when she smiles, Haru lets out a "Kyaaah!" as she hugs the girl.

"Oh, you are just the cutest!" This made Hinami embarrassed as Yui looked on, smiling at their little interaction.

 **Train to Oyama**

Ayane sat with Hotaruko in silence, the latter wondering what to talk about with her as their train made their way towards its destination.

"...So..."

"Yes!?" yelled Hotaruko, surprising the Hajinmon kunoichi. "I-I mean, what do you need?" Ayane asked her how she was doing at school. "Oh, school's great. Everyone, even my friends, was glad that I came back. The professors, well...I was given a huge lecture by them before they agreed to have me take a big test two weeks from now in order to catch up and hopefully bring them back up to an A."

"Good to hear..."

"...Ayane?"

"What now?" Hotaruko asked her why she agreed to come with her to see the races. "Because that ticket would've been a waste."

"Maybe, but you didn't have to come, yet you said yes." Ayane asks her what was her point, Hotaruko telling her, "You enjoy having someone to hang with."

"No, I don't. Don't make assumptions." Slightly annoyed, Hotaruko asked Ayane why she couldn't be honest. "I am being honest."

"No, you're not. You're being evasive with me. Come on Ayane. If you don't tell me why I will bug you."

"What could you possibly do that will get me to talk?" To her horror, Hotaruko starts singing **"Fairy Party" by ClariS** out loud, being horrible at it. Unknown to the girl, Ayane loved ClariS, and to hear it being sung by a complete amateur was a nightmare. Ayane covers her ears in an attempt to down out her singing, but Hotaruko leans her mouth towards her left ear and sings louder.

"Okay! I felt bad that your father wasn't able to go with you okay!?" Abruptly stopping her (horrible) singing, Hotaruko looked surprised. "It bothered me, to see you with that face..." With a smile, she told Ayane she was kind.

"Underneath all of that attitude of yours is a very nice person who's capable of caring. You should bring it out more." Recalling how Naruto said the same thing to her the night she consoled him on Hokage Rock, she rudely told Hotaruko to keep her mouth shut, confusing her.

"Did I say some-"

"Not another word...Do you hear me?" Ayane interrupts. Silence takes over a bit as the two looked away at each other. Sneaking a peek at Ayane to see how angry she was, she sees tears in the girl's eyes as the kunoichi pulls her hood over her head so no one saw her at her vulnerable, unaware that Horatuko saw them.

 **"I must've reminded her of something sad..."** Pretending she didn't see them, Hotaruko hears Ayane apologize to her.

"It's okay Ayane. I said something I shouldn't have said..." she told the Hajinmon kunoichi.

"You did nothing wrong..." said Ayane, sounding sorry for getting angry with the girl. "...Hey..."

"Yes?"

"When we get to the speedway...What would you like to eat while we're watching the races?" Hearing this, Hotaruko smiled as she told the girl, "A large tub of buttered popcorn and a large soda."

 **Oyama**

 **Fuji Speedway**

Woooow.." said Hinami as she marveled at the speedway and the crowds of people who were walking in to watch the races as Yui and Haru walk behind her. Yui suggests they take a picture and send it to Naruto, Hinami agreeing with her as the Sainan student takes out her phone and takes a selfie with Hinami and Haru.

After taking the picture, the girls look at it, smiling at how good it turned out. As soon as the three walked in to get their tickets, Ayane and Hotaruko arrived, the latter telling the Hajinmon kunoichi if it was possible to meet Tina.

"Don't know, let's find out, shall we? If we can't, I'll just knock out the guards."

"Knock them out?" Ayane tells her she'll use a sleep ninpo to knock them out for a few minutes. Once she and Hotaruko head out to meet Tina, Kouta arrived with three of his men, voicing how excited he was to see Tina win, having bet a lot of money on her winning after helping Yuno sabotage Aiko's car, unaware that Aiko's car was repaired before he arrived.

 **Club Koakuma**

Naruto slams a man's face on one of the club's tables before avoiding the swing of a gangster's energy katana. Taking an unopened wine bottle, Naruto swings it at his attacker's face, breaking it as the man reels back in pain, small shards of glass embedded in his face. Kazuma grabs one by his left leg and swings him around like a flail, knocking down several men that were about to surround him before throwing the man to a wall, making a large crack.

"You're pretty good in a fight, kid."

"Thanks, you're quite a fighter yourself. I'm glad that you're on my side, Kiryu-san." Naruto instinctively dodges a punch from behind before kicking the men forward before Kazuma kicks the man down onto the floor before he and the blond plant their feet on the man's chest, intimidating them with their glares. "Now listen here, buddy. We've been through 6 clubs now. You better know where Hayashi is, or you're going to end up like your friends."

"O-Okay! He's at the Stardust host club!" said the man, scared for his life. "He had some business there with a member of Talon!"

"Talon? The hell is that?" asked Kazuma. Naruto informs him of the organization before turning to the man and asking him what sort of deal was going down and who he was meeting. "A woman named Moira. I don't know much, except that she was paid by Hayashi for some modified UltraTech arms of her design!"

"What for!?" The man tells Naruto that was everything he knew. Naruto applied pressure on the man's chest, cracking some bone. Seeing this, Kazuma tells him to not lose his cool.

"I don't know! I swear what I've told you is everything I know!" Pulling his foot away, he thanked the man before knocking him out with a kick.

"The club is on Tenkaichi Street. We should head there now." As Kazuma took the lead, Naruto got a call from Trent.

"Talk to me."

 _ **"The men you brought in two hours ago...They're dead."**_ Naruto's eyes widened. _**"They were found in their cells 5 minutes ago, their heads blown to pieces. Surveillance cameras were scrambled before the deed was done. From the splatter of brain matter and the empty casings, it was from a blast of a shotgun at close range. A double barrel or two."**_

"...Reaper. Do you see any air vents?" Trent tells him there was one under one of the cameras. "He must've snuck in through the air vents in his shadow form. Inform Kirigiri about it right away. For Reaper to come all the way to Kamurocho to execute three men...They must be involved with the UltraTech dealings somehow. Right now, I'm on my way to Stardust to stop a deal going down between Talon's geneticist Moira, and a gangster named Hayashi."

 _ **"Right, talk to you soon."**_

 **Oyama**

 **Fuji Speedway**

"Ayane hey!" Tina yelled as she wraps her arms around the annoyed kunoichi as Hotaruko looked at Tina, awestruck. "It's been a while since New Zack Island." When Hotaruko asked what New Zack Island was, Tina informed the girl of a small tropical island she and the other female DOA fighters went to for vacation and how they got well-acquainted over volleyball. "It got destroyed by a meteor shower...before that, it was a volcano."

"Y-You don't say... **Just what did these girls go through?"**

"So who's your friend?" Hotaruko shyly introduced herself to the daughter of Bass, who noticed her dyed purple hair, forming an intrigued smile on her face as she turned to Ayane. "Is she a fan you've become friends with?" Ayane looked away, annoyed as she rests her arms under her breasts.

"As if..." Going over to Tina, Hotaruko whispered in her ear, _"We're kind of friends..."_

"So just like me huh?" Hotaruko nods in agreement.

 _ **"To all racers, the race will begin in 5 minutes."**_ Looking at the two, Tina tells them they should go take their seats as she prepared to head to her car.

"Hey..." Turning around, Tina looked surprised when Ayane told her to do her best. With a huge smile, she gives her a thumbs up.

At the bleachers, Hinami, Yui, and Haru took their seats, the latter holding a large box of nachos covered in melted cheese and three large soft drinks. When Hinami asked who they should root for, Haru told her she should root for the racer who was sponsored by Okumura Foods.

"Which racer is that?" asked Yui, Haru telling her the racer's name was Aiko Nakumura. On another part of the bleachers, Kouta looked in disbelief as Aiko gets ready to race.

"How the hell is that man's car in working condition. I thought Yuno said he made sure it was sabotaged! I'm going to lose money!" One of his men tells him to calm down, he snaps at him and tells him not to tell him to calm down as he knocks him down with a punch to the face.

"So-Sorry sir!"

"First a shipment got destroyed last night, now I'm going to lose more money. Hayashi better finish that deal with Talon or the Yomei Alliance is going to have my ass for this."

 **Kamurocho**

 **Stardust**

"And you're certain that this will work?" asked Hayashi as he sat opposite of Talon's geneticist, Moira O'Deorain at a table. The club was reserved by them so they could speak without any interruptions as the geneticist shows him a display of a gas that was used on a Kumo-nin they captured for experimenting.

"UltraTech may have created a gas that shuts down a ninja's ability to use ki temporarily, I've perfected their work, allowing it to work on chakra as well. With this, their whole network gets shut off. Enhancements, techniques, they won't be able to use it." Looking at the holographic screen, Hayashi could see the Kumo-nin unable to use his jutsu to protect himself after inhaling the gas before being killed by Talon mercenaries. Hayashi had a huge grin on his face as he pictured Ayane powerless to fight him.

"How would we solve their fighting capabilities?" Moira shows him another recording of a Talon mercenary who was armed with an UltraTech exosuit of Moira's design. In it, another Kumo-nin tried to use a lightning release jutsu on him, only to have it absorbed by the armor.

"Talon has upgraded the UltraTech exosuits we recently got our hands on from some group who call themselves the League of Villains. Able to absorb chakra from the many techniques they use and..." When the Kumo-nin throws a punch at the Talon mercenary, the latter catches it before punching his face to a bloody pulp. "Increases the wearer's reaction time and strength using the energy stolen from them."

"Excellent! Just what I- Just what Kouta needs. With this, the Yomei Alliance will finally end the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance, and take over Kamurocho, maybe this whole country!"

"I have shown you what I can offer, can you deliver on your promise?" Hayashi tells one of his two guards to wire the money to Moira. Checking to make sure the money was transferred to her, Moira formed a satisfied look on her face as she received the wired payment. "As promised, some of our men are shipping the tech to Kouta's hideout as we speak."

"Great, Kouta will-" Before he could finish, two of his men come crashing in from a kick delivered to them by Naruto and Kazuma. Hayashi looked at them, fear on his face as he focused his attention on Kazuma. "Oh shit, it's the Dragon of Dojima!" Turning to Moira, he asks for her help.

"Sorry, but this wasn't part of Talon's agreement. You're on your own now," Moira told him before "fading" away in a burst of purple smoke.

"You bitch!"

"I take it you must be Hayashi," said Naruto. Abruptly getting out of his seat, he tells his men to protect him, only for Naruto to swiftly throw two kunai at them, hitting them in the head before they could activate their UltraTech exosuits. Hayashi tries to run, only for Kazuma to throw one of the small round tables at him, who ducks down like a coward. With a quick step, Naruto appears in front of Hayashi, who pulls a gun on his. Naruto swats the gun away from his hand before holding him up by the collar of his suit.

"My new friend and I have been looking all over for you. We have questions, and YOU will answer them for us." The blond Chunin then threatened to cut his fingers off by sections with a cigar cutter he took out from the gangster's pocket before slamming him down on a table and holding up Hayashi's right hand. "Kiryu-san, you go first."

"Some of your men tried to kill me earlier. Who sent them?" asked Kiryu, sounding demanding as she raised his voice a bit.

"Ko...Kouta! It was Kouta!" Kazuma looked surprised when he heard the man's name before narrowing them. "So it's that bastard..."

"Who's Kouta?" Naruto asked Kazuma, who prepares to tell Naruto about him.

"He was a former member of the Tojo Clan. A coward who lets his money and those under him do the dirty work. He did nothing but eat, sleep, fuck, and gamble. While he was the true definition of a coward, once someone is powerless before him, you'd wish for death as soon as he's done with you. He'll torture and humiliate a man to death, using any means necessary. For women, he and his men will rip their clothes off, take pictures for keeps, and then..."destroy them" inside, over and over again, until there's no life in their eyes, all while recording it for their own pleasure. One day, he tried to force himself on a clan head's daughter during her 18th birthday. I was able to stop him before he could do any harm to her, beating him with an inch of his life. Before he could be presented to the clan for judgment, he escaped with the help of those still loyal to him. Last I heard of him, he became a member of the Yomei Alliance."

"Yomei Alliance?" Kazuma tells him they were a syndicate of multiple Yakuza clans.

"They're said to be so powerful that not even the Tojo Clan or the Omi Alliance can touch them. They must've taken him in for his knowledge on the Tojo Clan." Turning to Hayashi, Naruto asked him if Kouta planned to use the UltraTech equipment they obtained to wipe out the Yomei Alliance's enemies, threatening him with the cigar cutter once more.

"Yes!"

"Where is it? The equipment?"

"It's already on its way to Kouta's as we speak. I just finalized a deal with Talon." Naruto had a look of anger in his eyes when he mentioned Talon.

"So the Yomei Alliance hired Talon to secure the UltraTech shipments...Where are they being dropped off?" Hayashi told him to kiss his ass since he wasn't going to rat out Kouta. Naruto retaliates by using the cigar cutter to cut off a section of the man's right pinky, making him scream in pain.

"AHHH YOU FUCKING FUCK FUCK FUCK! I WILL SUE YOU!" Naruto tells him he'll simply make it look like Hayashi severed it himself, seeing as how the gangster was a Yomei Yakuza.

"Now I'll ask again, where is it?" When he refuses, Naruto cuts off the rest of his right pinky before asking again.

"FUCK YOU, YOU PSYCHO!" Naruto tells him it was the wrong answer as he cuts off a section of Hayashi's right ring finger. Kazuma tells him to stop after that.

"Even if you cut off all of them, he won't say anything. Now that we know who we're really after, we can focus on that. Hayashi is of no use to us anymore." Naruto grits his teeth in annoyance as he tells Hayashi they were taking him in.

"I won't be in bars long. I will go free, and I will sue you!" he promised Naruto, anger in his voice. "Not only that, I will find Hotaruko and that Ayane bitch, and I will-" Hearing the kunoichi's name, Naruto throws him down onto the floor, demanding to know what he knew. "What's it to you?"

"Everything..." Naruto told him, glaring at the man's soul. Realizing this, Hayashi formed a smile on his face. "Oh, I see, you know her...I want to know, is she single?" Instead of answering, Naruto picks him up and knocks him down with a punch.

"I take that as a yes. I wonder, is she a virgin or-." Naruto slams his foot on the man's chest hard.

"OOF!"

"Shut up..."

"She is, isn't she...I wonder, are you unable to perform well in bed? Maybe your dick is too small to enter her." Naruto angrily stomps on the man's chest, who painfully chuckles. "A guy like me? I can give her what she wants. Show her a real man, not some-" Pulling him off the floor, Naruto slams him against a wall before punching him in the face hard, the force of it crushing the man's left eye socket. Not stopping there, the blond throws him over a counter, knocking down several expensive bottles of alcohol from the shelves they were on. As Hayashi struggle to get up, Naruto grabs him by the hair and slams the right side of his face onto the broken glass-littered floor, dragging his face across the broken glass pieces, ripping the right side of his face apart as Hayashi screamed in agony. Before he could kill him, Kazuma stops Naruto.

"That's as far as you go, Naruto. If you do this, you're no better than him...He's not worth killing, at least not yet." After thinking about it, Naruto relents before he told Hayashi, "If I ever see you near Ayane, or lay a hand on her, you're going to wish you didn't say all that shit to me and wish that Kiryu-san didn't stop me." Handing Hayashi to Kazuma, he tells the latter they should head to the police station. Looking at the damage Naruto inflicted on Hayashi, Kazuma notes how similar the blond was to (Goro) Majima in terms of ferocity.

 **Oyama**

 **Fuji Speedway**

Kouta panicked as the race was 30 laps away from ending as Aiko took the lead. Deciding to take drastic measures, Kouta tells one of his men to place an explosive on Aiko's car once he goes for a pit stop.

"Once they're on the final lap, I will make sure that I pull the trigger." As one of Kouta's men walks off to handle it, Hinami sips her drink, only to find it empty.

"I'm out of root beer..." Turning to Haru and Yui, she tells them she needs to go get a refill.

"You may miss out of some changes in-"

"That's okay. I have faith that your racer will win. Besides, I'm old enough to go refill my cup." Haru tells Hinami to hurry back when she can. Arriving at the dining area, she finds a long line in front of her, letting out a sigh.

Back at the bleachers, Hotaruko voiced how good it was for Tina to be in second place as Ayane stayed silent, focusing on the race in front of them.

Aiko, running out of gas, makes it to the pitstop, where Sal, Lorenzo, and other fellow pit crew members gather around to refill his tanks and replace his tires. While they were focused at the task at hand, they didn't notice an extra pair of hands, belonging to Kouta's man, disguised as one of them, placing a bomb underneath the back of the bumper.

"Alright, you're good!" yelled Sal as he gave him a thumbs up. With a nod, Aiko drives off to finish the race.

 **Kamurocho**

 **Police Station**

"Geez Naruto, you did all that to him?" asked Trent as Ellis handles the facially scarred gangster. "You're lucky to have a high-ranking official like Kirigiri to cover you, or else you'd be arrested.

"I know..."

"And you're lucky that Kiryu-san was with you." Naruto tells him he knew once more.

"How bad was the damage?" asked Kazuma. Instead of Trent answering, the nurse Trent called over, Mikan Tsumiki **(The Ultimate Nurse)(Cameo)** , who was about ready to go home, told them she did her best to remove all of the broken shards from Hayashi's face, including the very small ones, before trying to repair the tissue.

"The damage he sustained on his face...it's very lacerated," she informed them. "He'll need to wear a mask from now on." Trent thanks her for trying before letting her leave the station.

"Alright. Now, regarding the shipment Moira promised this Kouta guy, we are unable to locate it, mainly due to the stealth tech Talon used. By now it's already at his hideout, wherever that is. They knew what they were doing when they enlisted Talon's help."

"We have to stop that bastard Kouta before he initiates his attack on the Tojo Clan." When Trent asked him what he means by "we", Kazuma tells him since Kouta tried to kill him, unsuccessfully, he will help find leads on where he was hiding. "I have several informants, friends I know, here in Kamurocho and elsewhere. If any of his men let something slip out of their mouths, I'll let you two know.

"Thanks, Kiryu-san, we appreciate your cooperation," said a grateful Trent. Noticing Ellis walking towards them, Trent asked him how Hayashi was.

"Pissed," he told his partner.

"Where is he now?" asked Naruto.

"He's awaiting interrogation," said Ellis, telling them he had two guards watching him. Going over to interrogation, they see a dead cop in front of the now-open room Hayashi used to be in. Inspecting the body, Naruto noticed a cut on the man's neck and a stab wound on his chest.

"He's gone!" yelled Trent.

"The other cop must've been part of Kouta's gang," Naruto said, sounding pissed as he punched the marble floor, leaving a crack. Ellis looked on, shame in his face. He knew the man who helped Hayashi get out of the interrogation room. It was Kouta's second in command, Haruka. He let the man kill the cop as he made sure no one was around to see before he went over to grab Naruto and the others.

"We'll put out a warrant for his arrest..." With a sigh, Kazuma figured he'd call his "daughter" and tell her he was not coming home for a while.

 **Stolen Police Car**

"What are you supposed to be now? Pirate Captain of the Opera?" Haruka joked as he drove Hayashi back to Kouta's hideout, the scarred gangster riding at the back.

"Don't you dare make a joke out of this!"

"I knew you were ugly on the inside, but now you're ugly on the outside," he adds, further annoying Haruka.

"You're lucky that I'm in the back, or I'll-" Turning serious, Haruka asked him what he could possibly do that would scare him.

"I dare you to finish your sentence. Tell me, what would you do to me that would scare me?" Haruka said nothing. "That's what I thought."

"That blond...He'll pay for this...I'll make sure of it!"

 **Oyama**

 **Fuji Speedway**

Hinami had a satisfied look on her face as she finished filling her large cup up with root beer before putting on a new lid and straw.

"It was a long wait, but I got it," she told herself before making her way back to Yui and Haru. Back at the races, there were only three laps to go, Aiko still in the lead, with Tina still in second place. Kouta had a large smirk on his face as he prepared the detonator. Two laps were left...Now one...

"Your luck runs out now..." said Kouta. Before his thumb could press the trigger, Hinami accidentally slips on a strawberry ice cream cone and spills her drink on Kouta and the detonator, ruining the device, rendering the bomb useless as Aiko finished in first place, the crowd going wild.

"Oh my gosh, I-I'm so sorry, sir. I-"

"You...YOU LITTLE RUNT!" Hinami's apologetic face turned into fear as Kouta and his three men got up and directed their attention towards her. "Not only did you ruin my suit, because of you, I lost a lot of money! Stupid girl!" Hinami moves back as Kouta and his men ganged up on her. Walking back enough, Hinami stops as her back's against the wall.

"I should teach you a lesson," he told her, pulling out a brass knuckle out of his pocket to put on his left hand as prepared to hit Hinami. The girl puts her hands over her head as she closed her eyes and yelled for someone to save her, just as Kouta threw a punch at her. However, it never came. Opening her eyes, Hinami looked shocked, even relieved as Ayane appeared in front of her, having caught Kouta's left fist.

"You...You're-" Ayane doesn't let him finish as she slowly starts twisting his arm, forcing him onto his knees as his men move back in fear.

 _"A...Ayane-san..."_ Hinami got teary-eyed, having been reunited with the Hajinmon kunoichi, who is left fuming with great anger as she punched Kouta in the face, sending him flying to his men, knocking them down.

"OW! THAT HURTS! THAT HURTS!" Walking in on them, Hotaruko asked Ayane what was going on.

"Just knocking down trash is all," Ayane told the girl as Kouta ran off with his men, letting the girl know she'll pay for punching him. Turning to Hotaruko, she tells her they were leaving, only showing herself to Hinami because she was in trouble. Hearing this, Hinami tearfully tells her to not leave, having just reunited with her, only to part ways.

"Ayane, this girl, she-"

"We're going!" she tells Hotaruko, before taking her hand and preparing to leave. However, Hinamai stops her by holding onto her hoodie. "Let...go Hinami."

 _"Don't leave me again Ayane-san...I don't want you to go..."_

"...I'm sorry, Hinami, but I can't do that for you." Ayane knocks her out by putting her to sleep with a genjutsu.

"Ayane!?" Yui was shocked to see the Hajinmon kunoichi as Haru stood next to her. Before the Sainan student could say anything, Ayane teleports away without Hotaruko, leaving behind a few lilac petals.

 **Sainan Town**

 **Uzumaki Residence**

"I'm home," said Naruto, sounding tired. Entering the living room, Naruto finds Yui, Haru, and Hotaruko waiting for him, Hinami sleeping on the couch.

"Oh, hey girls..." Naruto's eyes widen when he noticed Hotaruko. "Who...Who are you?"

"Hotaruko Rinko...You're Naruto Uzumaki?" Naruto nods at her. "You're very handsome."

"Umm..." Turning to Haru and Yui, Naruto asked them why they brought a stranger into his home. Yui tells him they saw Ayane earlier.

"Ayane!? You saw her!?" Yui adds the part where Ayane was with Hotaruko, watching the races.

"She saved me from my ex-boyfriend and had dinner with her last night. I want to hear what you have to say. About her...I want to understand her relationship with you. She's not willing to talk to anyone about it. She's...stubborn."

"Yeah, she's like that most of the time," he told her, lightly smiling. "She rarely shows any expression, but...I could always tell how she's feeling..."

"...If it's okay with you, you think you can tell me about Ayane? Anything you know."

"Oh, seems I'm not the only one who wants to know." Turning around, the others are surprised to see Kasumi enter, making Naruto wonder if it was that easy to enter his home and thinking he should ask Lala to build him some security for his house.

"Kasumi? Where have you been?" She tells him she was out looking for Victor Donovan, and that along the way, she "met someone". When Naruto asked who he was, she shyly told him it was a girl. "A GIRL!?"

"I'll explain it to you some other time. All I can say is that she and I are dealing with her personal demons and that we're waiting for some leads. Ayane had helped us out a bit on our investigation while you were busy dealing with other situations. I noticed she had gone back to her old habits, and it worries me. Knowing her, she won't tell anyone about what she's feeling. I figured you would shed some light into this."

"I hope so too...Alright, where do you want me to start?"

 **Five-Story Tower**

 **Fifth Level**

Entering his spacious office, Kouta and his men see Hayashi waiting for him, sitting at a couch on the left side of the room. Haruka was also there, standing opposite of Hayashi, the latter looking out the window as Haruka poured himself a glass of expensive red wine **(Domaine Leroy Richebourg Grand Cru 1949)**. Noticing his eyepatch and the mask covering his right side, Kouta asked him why he was wearing them. Instead of answering, Hayashi takes off his eyepatch and mask for a bit, showing his colleagues the damage Naruto did to his face. Kouta almost puked from the sight of it, as did his men before asking what happened.

"Some damn kid did this to me! He cut off my right hand's pinky finger, and part of my ring finger, he crushed my left eye and lacerated my right face. Now...Now I have to wear a damn mask and eyepatch for the rest of my life. He destroyed my beautiful face!" Kouta tells him he wasn't the only one who was suffering a humiliation.'

"I lost money because a stupid little girl dropped her drink on the detonator switch, and I got punched in the face by that Ayane girl," said Kouta, clenching his teeth in anger. "I can see why you'd want her to pay for what she did to you. To us...Break her down, defile her, body, soul, mind..."

"Yes...let's get ourselves a ninja," said Haruka. "Question is...How do we manipulate her into coming to us?" Thinking about it, Kouta recalls Ayane having a girl with her, having the same hair color as her, but with green eyes. Realizing he was talking about Hotaruko, Haruka smiles as he tells his boss, "I may have an idea. However, we'll have to use some of the tech we've stored up and obtained. Know her, we'll need to use everything in our disposal to get her on her knees."

"I'm sure the Yomei Alliance won't mind if we used some of them for "testing" if you know what I mean. We should also call our superiors and ask for more men. Just as a precaution."

 **Shibuya**

 **Yakiniku Ikuta**

"Dammit!" yelled Aiko, slamming his fist on the table as his pit crew wondered what got him so angry all of a sudden. When Sal asked him about it, he told them that the three men who sabotaged his car were found dead in the police station. "It has to be my brother! He must've hired someone to kill them. I know it!"

"Aiko, keep it down, people are staring," said Lorenzo. "Come on, you won first place. This is the time to celebrate."

"How can I celebrate when Yuno gets away with a crime by having three witnesses killed in their cell!?" he asked them. "He's not getting away with this!" Getting up, Aiko rushes out of the restaurant and recklessly drives off to confront his brother personally.

 **Shibuya 109 Tower**

 **[Persona 4 - Traumerei]**

Ayane sat by herself on the very top of the tower as she looked down at the people passing by below her, noticing a few young couples walking around, talking, laughing, and kissing. They looked very happy with each other. Pulling out the letter Kureha wrote to her, shortly after her death at the hands of Doku **(Ninja Gaiden BLACK)** during the Black Spider Ninjas assault on the Hayabusa Village, having received aid from the Akatsuki.

 ** _"Ayane, by the time you find this letter, I'll be gone. I wrote this letter with the intention to tell you the truth and trust you with it: The reason for the attack on the village and everything before that. The truth is that I knew my days were coming to an end. Instead of preventing it by telling the others, I decided not to, deciding to use all my powers to secretly protect the villagers. Had I avoided my death, the Black Spider Ninjas and the Akatsuki would've successfully lured Naruto to the village and capture him with the intention of extracting the Nine-Tailed Fox from his body. I also knew that you'd try your best to protect me as Naruto would. Though you have the habit of not showing your true feelings to others, I know you're in pain. You must be blaming yourself for not protecting me, and I understand that feeling. I want you to know that I don't blame you for not protecting me and that you can overcome this sadness, even if it continues to hurt you inside. I'm so glad I managed to live long enough to see you change, even if it was little by little. If it's not too late, I ask you, please be nice to your sister Kasumi. I want you to do that not for me, but for yourself. As for Naruto, I am well aware of your feelings towards him, don't deny how you feel. Be honest with yourself. Don't hide it. You will have to confront him about it eventually. You and Naruto share a bond that can never be severed. It would help me if you had his back. While he may not be related to the Hayabusa Clan, I consider him like a son I've never had so please, in my place, protect and watch over him, that is my greatest wish to you. I would also like to give you my permission to date him. You deserve to be happy Ayane."_**

"I can't do it, Kureha..." Ayane hugged her knees and held onto the note tight. Recalling seeing Naruto and Hinata kiss and how the Hyuga girl stayed at his side when he was bedridden, she says, "I'm not the one he wanted in the end...Hinata has that right...Even so..." At this point, Ayane tears up.

 _"I don't want to admit it...That I lost to her...You're such an idiot, Naruto...An idiot..."_

 **[Music End]**

* * *

 **Next two chapters...will be crazy, hopefully emotional. Truths will be revealed, Kouta and Hayashi make their move, Aiko confronts his younger brother, and I am having a lot of emotions right now. As for Naruto and Ayane...That will be something to think about.**

 **Regarding Hinami, I compare her relationship with Ayane to Vegeta and Trunks, and Piccolo and Gohan. Ayane really cares for Hinami, something she developed right off the bat, and she views herself as a parent to Hinami, though she does not admit to it. SHe also fears this bond she has with Hinami, since it collides with her anger towards Naruto and the pain she feels inside.**

 **The last part of this chapter was based on a scene in The Last: Naruto the Movie, where Hinata is all alone, the scarf she was planning to give to Naruto in hand, sad, assuming that she was too late to be with him. That scene, in particular, sold me, and I felt that the scene would go well with Ayane and how she really feels, just in a different setting/place.**

 **Now I need to watch/read Goblin Slayer a bit, along with Devils' Line for Ayane's...She's going to have a tough time next chapter. I also need to look into Inuyashiki, Fuuka, Future Diary,** **Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel I. presage flower and** **Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel II. lost butterfly. The reference materials will be vital to Naruto and Ayane in the long run of this story. I just hope that CranberryVishnu-senpai approves of this alternate-telling of his story.**


	5. Chapter 4

**The idea of Naruto seeing several girls came up after watching "Crazy, Stupid, Love", with Ryan Gosling's character being a womanizer who begins a relationship with Emma Stone's character.**

 **A missing piece of info: After Ayane told him she didn't want to see him again, Naruto was very down about it. Weeks after this, Xenovia, though unaware of his situation, due to not knowing that he was a ninja, decided to help him get over it by having him pose as her boyfriend when a guy kept on hitting on her. From there, he started thinking of others as potential love interests, but ultimately, his love for the purple-haired kunoichi prevented him from pursuing any sort of romance with them, Moka being the closest to having a relationship with him.**

 **Girls like Moka, Xenovia, and Haru are one of many who are an exception, being one of the rare ones who've attracted him the same way Ayane has. This was after Rin Kujou, Naruto's first crush, declined his love confession and Jiraiya gave him the talk about "fish in the sea".**

 **Another thing to mention, after PART III, the Ninja Nation decided to be more open to the whole world, seeing it as a fresh start for them going forward. Since the Kages can't go meet with Japan and the world as representatives, having to stay in their villages in order to make sure invaders don't come in and attack, the Hyugas were selected to represent them as a whole. For the rest of the other stories after PART III, Naruto has been operating without the world knowing he was a part of the Ninja Nations.**

 **With the incident involving METAVERSE, Japan needed to know what was going on with the destruction that was being created by Erebus/Nyx. Wanting to allow S.E.E.S., The Investigation Club, and The Phantom Thieves to get away, Naruto allowed himself to be exposed and brought in for questioning. But with Kirigiri's help, and support from the Ninja Nation, Naruto was not only free to go, but he was free to operate how he pleased.**

* * *

 **[気持ちの整理出来るまで** **(Until you can organize your feelings) by Maiko Fujita]**

 **Sainan Town**

 **Uzumaki Residence**

 **8:37 pm**

"Where do you want me to start?" asked Naruto. Thinking about it, Hotaruko decides to ask the blond about his relationship with Ayane, wanting to know if they really did get along with each other better than the other friends he's made. When asked if Ayane thought of their relationship like that, she answered with a yes, both surprising him and making him smile.

"Ayane and I both trained all our lives, hoping to become something great to others, including the villages we came from. We became good friends after a night of talking. I heard her story, and she heard mine. From that day on, we had each other's backs whenever we met up...and every time she came to my village, she would come stay at my house." Hotaruko, Yui, and Haru's faces turned flushed when Naruto told them that.

"She stays at your place in Konoha?" said Haru.

"How shameless..." Looking at Yui, he told her it wasn't like that, though he admits to accidentally seeing her naked on several occasions, catching Kasumi's attention.

"You saw her naked? You saw my sister NAKED? She never told me about this..." As Kasumi prepared to bring out Shrouded Moon, Naruto told her they were on accident, red in the face. Yui voiced how she lost a little bit of respect for Naruto, telling him he was just as shameless as Rito.

"Kotegawa, you are quite something to bring that up in a conversation like this. Back to Ayane..." Pulling out the headband he made for Ayane all those years ago, he told them how everything between them was good.

"Well, that was until her father and Kasumi's uncle, Raidou, attacked their village. I had arrived there to fight him off, with success, but Ayane...She didn't take me defeating him very well. She blamed me for making her weak. She felt that I made her soft. Because of that, she told me never to see her again. It...broke my heart to hear her say that to me, especially since I lost Kureha months ago." As the girls sympathized with the blond, Hinami woke up, wondering what was going on as she rubbed her eyes before noticing Naruto and Kasumi.

"Naruto? Kasumi-san?" Turning to Hinami, the blond asked her if he woke her up. "No, I'm fine...What's going on?"

"Naruto here was telling us about his relationship with Ayane," said Yui. Her eyes widening, Hinami turns to Naruto and tells him she wants to hear it.

"Are you sure?" he asked her, Hinami telling him she wanted to hear it. "Well Hinami, I just finished telling everyone how Ayane and I got into a fight."

"What!? You and Ayane-san argued?" Naruto assured Hinami it wasn't big, but it felt big to Ayane, enough to not let him see her. "How did you two get back together?"

"We just needed time away from each other, though it bothered me a lot...worried me even...but I respected her enough to give her space to gather herself. While I handled "an evil organization of rogue ninjas", Ayane and Kasumi were dealing with the Dead or Alive Tournaments and Victor Donovan. It took several months before she came to me and patched things up between us...Once the war was over, the night before getting ready to leave the Hidden Leaf..." Naruto turns red, the girls' eyes looking at him, wondering what he wanted to say. "I wanted to confess my feelings to her."

"Even when she's a daughter of bad circumstances?" asked Hotaruko.

"Being a daughter of bad circumstances wouldn't have mattered to me. I would still love her, regardless of who her father was. I wanted to tell her how I truly felt at my place, but..."

"What?" asked Yui.

"Hinata came over and confessed her feelings to me, by kissing me out of the blue. After telling her I didn't feel the same, Hinata started getting bold and...we..." The girls turned red as they pictured Naruto and Hinata together. The day after I felt...I felt undeserving of Ayane..."

"So that's why you never told her how you felt," said Kasumi, Naruto nodding. For men and women, your first time was supposed to be special. Sure, Naruto made Hinata feel special by agreeing to have sex with her, his best friend. However, for Hinata to use her own innocent and gentle nature as a weapon to guilt him...While it wasn't intentional...It affected the blond greatly.

"After coming here to Japan, Ayane and I still had a stable working relationship as usual, though she looked a bit angrier than ever, even annoyed. But as long as I could have her around, I felt happy, even if there was a small bit of distance between us. One night...after waking up from a battle I lost **(Rise of DIO)** , I found her headband in my hand and...After she left, I tried looking for her a bit, even left her voicemails, but she never called..." Remembering all the embarrassing things he told Ayane, he turned red, since some of the voicemails had him all sad and depressed, pouring his heart out and everything and some had added cheesy but creative lines only he could come up with.

"...It hurts to not have her here. Haru, remember when I said I was busy writing?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"The truth is...After she left...I've developed writer's block. I can't enjoy my work. I'm always sitting at my desk, drawing blanks...I can't even get some good sleep in...Even with Hinami with me...I feel lonely...I want to know why Ayane's acting the way she is, and...I want to make up with her..."

"You're that deeply in love with my sister, huh?" asked Kasumi, the blond nodding his head yes. Yui could understand Naruto and Ayane's relationship more after hearing what the blond had to say about it. Ayane was in the same boat as her **(Yui)**.

"...Naruto-san?" Turning to Hotaruko, he wondered what she was going to ask. "Hearing your history with her...You're not seeing anyone...are you?"

"No, I'm still single," he told her, making the girl's eyes widen.

"Oh my god..." When Naruto asked if something was wrong, she told herself, "Ayane has been angry over nothing..."

"What are you-"

"Naruto..." Turning to Kasumi, he asked her what she needed. "...*sighs*... Ayane and I were hoping you'd notice it on your own, but that's not always the case when it comes to you, so I'll be the one to say it...Naruto...my sister is in love with you." At first, Naruto kept the same blank face for 10 seconds before his eyes slowly widened when Kasumi revealed Ayane's feelings for him. "She's always loved you...But...she always felt inferior to girls like Hinata and Moka..." Now it was Hinami's turn to reveal things to Naruto.

"When Ayane-san was taking care of me, I asked her if she was in love with you...She told me she hated you very very much...But I could tell she didn't mean it and that she actually loves you very very much."

"Hinami..." Finally, it was Hotaruko's turn to speak.

"Ayane told me how, despite you supposedly having a girlfriend, she still wanted to stick by you. Every time she thought about wanting to move on, date others, she would feel disgusted by the thought of it," she told him. Looking down at the floor, Naruto was in deep thought as he recalled the times Ayane felt unloved by the blond.

"Naruto..." Looking up at Hotaruko, he wondered what she had to say. "You couldn't have known. A girl like Ayane...Who says one thing, but means the opposite...just can't be honest with herself...I now know what she wanted to tell my mother...She was used to not being honest, she's afraid of showing it, and finding out the outcome of exposing how she truly feels. The only person she can expose her true feelings to...is you." Naruto continued his silence as the girls wondered what he was going to say.

"...I think I'll head to bed now," said Naruto, getting up before slowly exiting the living room before heading upstairs as the girls watched. When Hotaruko asked if he was okay, Haru assured the girls that he tends to be deep in thought when something serious comes up, Hinami nodding in agreement.

"Everyone, if it's no trouble...Do you think you can help Naruto with finding Ayane-san?" asked Hinami. With a smile, they each agreed to help the blond.

"I'm always happy to help Naruto when I can. However, in return, he has to help me with my homework after all of this." Hinami tells Yui she would tell Naruto about it.

"I too will lend a hand. She is my sister after all," said Kasumi. When asked if the girl she was helping would be okay, she told the girls she could handle herself very well. Out of nowhere, Hotaruko's phone rings, startling the girls. Picking up, Hotaruko says, "Hello?"

 _ **"Hotaruko? Where are you?"**_ It was Mrs. Rinko calling. _**"It's almost 11:00 pm."**_ Grabbing her phone, Haru talks for her.

"Hello Mrs. Rinko, this is one of Hotaruko's friends, Haru. She is here studying at a friend of hers' house in order to help her get caught up with her classes," said the Okumura girl, Mrs. Rinko voicing how happy she was that Hotaruko's friend was helping her "study". "We'll be sure she aces those tests, ma'am."

 _ **"Alright, I just wished she told me about it before she went there. Hotaruko, make sure you don't give your friends a hard time, okay?"**_ Hotaruko simply tells her she'll be at her best behavior before her mother told her she loved her and hung up.

"Tell you the truth, I DO need help studying for my classes." With a smile, Hinami told Hotaruko to come whenever she wanted, since Naruto was a genius, Ayane as well, both helping her with her homework.

 **Naruto's Room**

Naruto laid on his bed in silence as he held Ayane's headband. It was the first thing he ever made for someone, having heard that giving someone you like a present made by hand was a lot more effective than giving them one that was bought. He then remembered the time he repaired it with her, using their ki to do so, reinforcing the fabric used to make it.

 **Several months ago**

 **A few days after the Fourth Great Ninja War ended**

 **Konoha Hospital**

"It got shredded by a bullet during the Mugen Tenshin's assault on DOATEC..."

"It must've taken you a while to look for them," said Naruto, looking at the pieces in his hands. Looking away, the red-faced Ayane apologized to him for getting it destroyed.

"This isn't a problem. I can easily have this fixed." This surprised Ayane, who turns to him and yells, "IN THAT STATE!?"

"Yes, I can get it put back to the way it was by using my ki. However, I can't do anything on my own, at the moment, given how I used up all my reserves." After his fight with Sasuke, Naruto had to use the ki he had reserved to regrow his right arm, not having the chakra needed to do so at the time. Red in the face, he told her he required her help.

"Okay, and how exactly can I help?"

 _"...-d your hand..."_

"What?" Naruto tells her they had to hold hands so she can share her ki with him. "Hold your hand?"

"Yeah, how else am I going to receive your ki, Ayane? You... You think you can-" Ayane doesn't hesitate to say yes as she moves her right hand and holds Naruto's left one. As they concentrate, the shredded pieces give off a glowing hue of orange and purple as they come together, stopping as soon as the headband is fully restored in the blond's right hand.

"There, all better." Gently taking the headband off his hand, the Hajinmon kunoichi thanked Naruto. "You don't need to thank me. I'm always happy to-."

"Naruto, I'm back with the pink lady apples you-..." Momiji turns silent when she noticed Naruto and Ayane holding hands. Turning red, she says, "Oh, I'm interrupting something, aren't I? _I think I'll come back later..."_ before closing the door. After five seconds of wondering, the two realized what Momiji saw, Ayane letting go as she yelled, "IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"

 **Now**

 **"It was all in front of me, on her face, but I passed it off as her getting angry...Is there still a chance that we can...Or am I too late?"** He had to know. Naruto wanted to hear Ayane's feelings from her own mouth as he clenched the dark-purple headband tight.

 **"Took you long enough, Naruto."**

"I take it you knew about her feelings, Kurama?"

 **"You may be a genius in many fields, but even your genius has limits, especially when it comes to love,"** Kurama informed the blond. **"I knew the moment you told her, "I think I love you." Five years and nothing happened, what with you two being stubborn and secretive with how you feel. She has done more things for you than any other girl."** Kurama had seen the times Ayane secretly slept in the same bed as him whenever he was asleep, comforting him when he had nightmares. She would then be the first one to wake up so he wouldn't find out. After Naruto's first battle with Sasuke, she prepared medicine for him to recover, helping the unconscious blond drink it, via mouth-to-mouth, though this was during the night when no one was around. **"You two are like birds of a feather. Stupid how you never confronted her about her feelings when you two were younger."**

"You don't have to kick me while I'm down, Kurama," said Naruto, sounding angry a bit.

 **"You deserve it for making her wait."**

"...How long until our full power comes back?" Kurama tells Naruto it'd take a bit longer before he was at 100%, adding that once it returned, he'll be stronger than before. "If I was at full strength, I could easily track Ayane down by her emotions..."

 **Tokyo**

 **Nakumura Shipping Inc. Building**

 **9:20 pm**

Yuno was sharing a laugh with a couple of ladies wearing maxi dresses, one blue and the other black, as they enjoyed a glass of wine as he told them a funny joke an employee of his told him.

 _"Stop him! Ahhh!"_ Suddenly, Aiko barges in, kicking a security guard into the room as he advanced towards his brother, who asks him what he was doing here as he got up from the black leather couch he was sitting on, opposite from the ladies. Without saying a word, Aiko knocks Yuno down with a punch, earning a scream from his two dates as they ran out of the room. With a small trickle of blood flowing down the right side of his mouth, Yuno chuckled.

"You finally did it...You've gone mad, Ai-" Again, Yuno gets punched in the face by Aiko, who yells, "You bastard! Don't think I don't know what you did!" before grabbing him by his collar and slamming him on his desk, earning a groan from his younger brother.

"You always did get into fights. How brutish of you," Yuno tells Aiko, a small smirk on his face. Once more, Yuno punched him.

"I know you hired someone to kill those men! Admit it!" Aiko clenched his teeth in anger as his younger brother tells him, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Aiko. You come in here, to my office and ruin-" Aiko shuts him up by slamming him onto his desk again.

"It was about time I had some payback, after all the shit you've pulled every year since Dad died!" As the race car driver pummels his brother with his left fist, he says, "I always refrained from coming here to kick your ass, but now you've taken it too far!" Aiko, after 12 seconds of repeated punching, the cops came in, telling Aiko to freeze. Aiko stops his fist as he turns around and locks eyes with two police officers.

"Aiko Nakumura, you're under arrest for reckless driving and for assault," said one of the policemen. "Put your hands up."

"You heard them, Aiko." Annoyed, the race car driver relents as he puts his hands up, allowing the cops to go over and cuff him. "Father would be disappointed in you," was the last thing Aiko heard as he and the cops exit the room.

"I swear you will pay for this, Yuno! I WILL find evidence, you hear me!?" After the doors close, the now-smirking Yuno tells him, "Good luck with that..." as he wiped away the small trickle of blood off his mouth.

 **The next day**

 **Ramen Ichiraku Shibuya**

 **Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan**

 **8:12 am**

Ayane has an extra large bowl of tonkotsu ramen with pickled shinachiku roots and a poached egg. While she's eating, a bespectacled first-year student from Kuoh Academy tries to hit on her, only to be scared off by the kunoichi's "You're annoying me" glare.

"An extra serving like that would be deadly to a girl's weight. Though knowing you, your body either burns those calories very easy, or you work it off." Looking up from her bowl, Ayane turns to the right to see Ray smiling at her.

"Mind if I sit next to you little miss?" Ayane says she doesn't mind before Ray thanks her, sitting down before ordering a large bowl of miso ramen and a mug of beer.

"Heard it's going to rain later in the evening. To think that my wife postponed our trip to go hang out with her friends in Hokkaido and left me with the kids **(One male 3rd grader, and twin sisters in high school)**. I hope she's okay." Ayane tells the retired Erebus Squad leader she was sure his wife could handle herself. "Maybe, but I can't help but worry for her."

"Worry for her, huh..."

"Of course, I love her after all." Ray smiles to himself as he thinks of his wife, Ayane focusing on her meal. "...What about you? Have anyone you like that you can't help but worry about?" The kunoichi has a short pause before telling Ray she didn't.

"Miss, I can't help but call bullshit," he told Ayane, the latter stopping as she turns to meet his gaze. "I've raised two girls with my wife, and I've learned how to read them like a book. Using that, I can tell if a girl like you's lying or not."

"I'm having strange run-ins with people like you," Ayane told herself, sounding annoyed.

"I just want to help, nothing else. I don't want anything from you," Ray told her. "You can lie with your mouth all you want, but you can never lie with your heart. The deeper you bury it, the more unhappy and empty you become, until your heart is beyond the point where it can heal. If I were you, I'd confront this boy and lay everything in front of him. Only then can the hurt go away, and the heart can heal." Hearing what Ray had to say, Ayane gulped down the soup in her bowl before setting it down and letting out a big sigh. Looking at the empty bowl, Ayane viewed the bowl as her heart, mainly the emptiness it represented now.

"There's this boy, handsome one he is. He's in love with this girl he's known for years, who's been hurt by him hurt by him." Curious, Ayane asked Ray what he did to hurt the girl he loved. "Never told me, forgot to ask. Though I'm sure it's something very serious." Ayane looked annoyed when he gave her his answer. "I could tell he was pretty crazy about her, for a girl who was unaware of how special she was to him from how sad he looked."

"She must be something to make him feel that way," said Ayane, Ray agreeing with her. "What is he doing to get back with her?"

"He's trying to reach her, wanting to make things right. However, she's playing hard to get from the way he talked about her. Told me she's very stubborn but sweet when I started asking about her," said Ray, chuckling a bit.

"He must be crazy for falling for a girl like her...But, if she's worth it, then I hope he and this girl get together."

"I hope so too. Listen and listen well, Miss. If the moment comes where you or this boy were to die, and you weren't able to pour your feelings out, you'll regret not doing so when either of you is still breathing. You can only keep it bottled for so long. It's alright to be scared, especially in front of the one you love. I'm sure this boy won't see you differently, that I can assure you."

"...You've given me something to think about. I can't promise that it'll end in a happy note." Reaching for her wallet, Ayane stops when Ray offers to pay for her ramen, telling her it was on him. "Thanks..."

"If you ever need someone to talk to, I always come here during breakfast." Ayane smiles a bit before telling him, "You call "that" a breakfast?", just as his large miso ramen and glass of beer are set in front of him.

"I should be telling you the same thing," Ray told Ayane before the latter got up.

"I hope this boy of yours gets back with that girl." Ray tells her he hoped so as well before asking her name. "...Ayane."

"Watch yourself, okay Ayane?" The kunoichi simply nods before leaving.

 **Train to Kamurocho**

 **9:36 am**

Since it was Sunday, none of the girls had classes today, allowing them to help Naruto find Ayane. Hinami looked around Sainan Town and Kuoh Town with Yui while Haru and Kasumi checked Karakura Town and Fuyuki City. These locations were one of the many places Ayane wanted to visit, Naruto remembering the conversation they had about Japan when they were younger. Right now, the blond was sitting with Hotaruko, waiting for their stop to Kamurocho before going to Musutafu in their search for her.

"It's still amazing how fast the bullet trains are now," said Hotaruko.

"You're welcome," said Naruto, telling her how he came up with the idea to use a constant but steady kinetic energy stream to not only feed the engines but improve upon the speed of the train and the braking. "It took half a week before Tatsuya and Four Leaves Technology gave it the green light."

"You think I can get an interview about it? It's for a paper due in two weeks." Naruto tells Hotaruko he'd take her to Four Leaves Technology for a full scoop.

"...You're kidding me, right?" Naruto only smiled at her question, the girl's eyes widening. "You're not kidding. For real!?"

"Kidding I'm not...So an ex was how you and Ayane met?" asked Naruto.

"Yes...How did you and Ayane meet? You never told us." Turning red, Naruto tells her he couldn't because Kasumi was present.

"We were twelve when we met...I saw her naked while she was bathing under a waterfall, being equally naked myself. She tried to kill me after and...we accidentally kissed." Hotaruko went silent before her face slowly turned red.

"I was hoping that it'd be something involving a lot of bad guys, with her ending up in your arms."

"Meeting someone does not need to be all romantic and cheesy in the movies and shows you've watched or the shojo mangas you've read. Formula can't always be the same thing. Ayane and I have ours, and you...You'll find your chance meeting. It may take a while, but you'll know it...Hopefully, it's better than how you met your ex. If I had to guess, it was like love at first sight for you, wasn't it?" Hotaruko sweats a bit.

"That sort of meeting won't always work out for everyone, ya know," said Naruto.

"I've learned my lesson, don't need another reminder. I swear that the next person I meet is not like Hayashi. He would-"

"Wait, Hayashi? Long brown hair, brown eyes? Wears a pair of sunglasses?" asked the blond ninja, Hotaruko confirming it.

"How do you know what he-"

"Listen and listen carefully Hotaruko. Under no circumstances are you to leave my side." When asked why, Naruto told her how he got angry with the gangster, disfiguring his right side, crushing his left eye and cutting off his finger and a section of one on his right hand.

"You did that to him!?"

"Well, he wasn't making it easy for himself. I also want to tell you that your ex is part of a Yakuza gang." Hotaruko's eyes widened when he told her more info about Hayashi. "Obviously YOU didn't know who you were seeing. Had you went with him, you would've found yourself in a lot of trouble."

"If Ayane didn't save me, I could've..."

 **Kamurocho**

 **Kamurocho Police Station**

 **12:00 pm**

"Hey Ellis, it's noon. Want to go grab some sandwiches at **"It's sandwich magic"**? I've been dying to eat there for a while," said Trent, a smile on his face as he offered to have his partner come with him.

"No, I think I'll just stick with the bento I bought from the store." Trent goes over to him and drags him out by the back of his collar, telling him the bento he bought should go to the trash and that it didn't compare to the sandwiches at **"It's sandwich magic"**. "What the hell are you doing!? What kind of sane person drags his partner to a forced outing!?"

"A person who wants his partner to try some tasty sandwiches. Don't worry about paying, it's all on me."

 **It's sandwich magic**

 **12:20 pm**

"Chicken Cutlet please," said Ellis, the employee behind the counter taking his order before she yelled for the sandwich makers to make the order. Looking at Trent, Ellis saw a wondrous and hungry look on his face as he looked at the menu.

"So many choices, so little of a stomach size. To have so many delicious orders and being forced to choose one is a crime itself," Trent told himself, wiping a thin trail of drool from his lower lip. "Perhaps I should order one for my dog."

"You take your time. I'm going out for a little smoke." As Trent continued to figure out what he was going to order, Ellis went outside as he took out a small pack of Marlboro and took out a cigarette and lighter. To his annoyance, he found his lighter out of fluid.

"Here pal, let me help out." Turning to his right, Ellis' eyes widened when he saw Hayashi with a lighter.

"Hayashi, you're looking very negative," said Ellis as he lit his cigarette and had a smoke. "It's rare for you to come to me. That means you want something, no...someone whom only I can deliver to you."

"You catch on very quick Ellis...The girls Hotaruko and Ayane, I want them, and you are the only person I can trust to lure the purple-haired girl to me." Ellis sighs before finishing his smoke and asking Hayashi what he needed him to do. "I need you to bring Hotaruko and her parents to the station and..." Telling Ellis of his plan, the policeman's eyes widened. "Once that's over, I need you to give Ayane the location of our hideout. Once she arrives, Kouta and I will deal with the girls ourselves."

"You're asking me to-"

"I know I know, but hey, if it means that your good ole dad can continue living then-"

"Fine...I-...I'll do it."

"Good. I am SO looking forward to tonight, pal," said Hayashi, handing him a note, telling him to act like he saw it stuck to their car. As soon as Trent comes out with his and Ellis' sandwiches, Hayashi had already left. "Man, that took a while. Sorry to keep you waiting, Ellis."

"It's...It's fine..." When Trent asked if he was okay, Ellis told him he was a bit under the weather.

"Yet you still come to work. Takes a lot of willpower to come in in that state. Well, let's-" Before Trent could say anything, his partner interrupts him, telling him of "the note he found stuck on their car's windshield wiper" as he hands him it. "What the hell...is this?"

 **Kamurocho**

 **12:20 pm**

Crossing off another location Ayane fancied, that being a confectionery shop, Naruto lets out a sigh as Hotaruko walked behind him.

"If only I was at full strength..." When asked what he meant by that, Naruto told her he could've tracked Ayane by her emotions and teleport to her in a blink of an eye. "Sure I'm fast as I am, but when I'm at full strength, that's another story."

"What can't you do?" Naruto responds with, "Eat a Mounds bar and figure out girls I guess. I'm sure there's a lot of other things, but-" Before Naruto could say more, he heard Trent say, "What the hell...is this?"

"Hey Trent, what's going on?" Turning to Naruto and Hotaruko, Trent voiced how convenient it was to have the two here.

"Ellis found this note on our car's windshield wiper." Taking the note, Naruto reads it, the note telling the policeman of Hayashi's intentions to go after Hotaruko and her family.

"The daughter's one thing, but to involve her family...I guess we should call off the search and try again-"

"Naruto, go find Ayane," Hotaruko interrupts, getting the blond's attention.

"But I can't-"

"It's fine, I can just go to the police station with my parents. I'm sure that the police can provide some sort of protection until Hayashi's caught, right?" Uneasy, Naruto was about to voice how against it he was again before Trent butts in and tells him he'll keep Hotaruko and her family safe.

"Go on, I'll let you know if anything happens," Trent finished, Naruto thanking him before telling him to be careful, given the UltraTech weapons Kouta was providing to Hayashi and his fellow Yomei Alliance members. "Noted."

"Thank you." Naruto turned and walked away, leaving Hotaruko with Trent. As soon as the blond was out of their sight, Hotaruko's stomach growled. Seeing as how it was lunchtime, Trent offers to buy her a sandwich.

 **Tokyo Police Station**

 **12:29 pm**

"Hey Nakumura, someone posted your bai-..." The policeman stops as he sees a slightly battered Aiko sitting on a bench as the five people, all men he was locked up with, were found beaten and unconscious.

"Who posted?" Lorenzo enters right after Aiko asked.

"Man, you look like shit," said Lorenzo.

"At least I'm not these guys..." Exiting the station, Aiko is left annoyed when the police revoked his license for driving so recklessly. "To think that I can't drive for a month..."

"I think it's a good thing, seeing as how you like to go fast. It's nice to take it slow," Lorenzo told him, though Aiko didn't look pleased by this. "So what do you plan on doing now?" Thinking about it, he asked Lorenzo if he could be his driver for the whole day, telling him he wanted to get hammered.

"I don't think you should do that, especially since you've been sober for three mo-"

"Lorenzo, I am just having a crap time. My brother tried to sabotage me, he got away with it, ending with my arrest, and I have no way of getting back at him. I'm drinking again." Aiko's friend only sighed before agreeing to take him binge drinking.

 **Musutafu, Tokyo, Japan**

 **5:30 pm**

 _ **"No, I haven't had any run-ins with Ayane at all."**_

"I see, sorry to interrupt you in the middle of your date, Ichigo." Ichigo tells Naruto it was fine, and that if he saw Ayane, he'll let him know. "So, I heard you got your Soul Reaper Powers back." Ichigo tells him it was thanks to Rukia for helping him regain them. "Good to hear that you're back in action. Anyways, I have to go now. I look forward to seeing you and your family at Hinami's birthday." Hanging up, Naruto sighed as he puts his phone back into his jacket pocket. However, he doesn't see where he's going and bumps into a 14-year old boy.

Looking at him, the boy had a round face framed by a short mess of fluffy dark green hair which sticks up at odd angles around his head, casting noticeably dark shadows onto itself. His eyes are large and somewhat circular, their irises the same green color as his hair, and are usually stretched quite wide, giving him an innocent appearance. He has a set of four symmetrical freckles in diamond formations, one on each cheek. His attire consisted of a simple black junior high uniform, red shoes, and a yellow backpack. The boy panicked as he apologized to the blond, telling him he wasn't looking at where he was going as he gathered the books that dropped on the ground.

"I should be the one apologizing. I wasn't looking either." As Naruto helped the boy, he noticed a battered up Campos notebook titled, **"Hero Analysis for the Future No. 13"** and opens it up. Skimming through the pages, Naruto looked impressed as he read the contents of the book. Seeing this, the boy lets out an embarrassed scream as the blond finished reading over it, closing the book and looking at him. Observing him, Naruto noticed the kid had some decent muscle development, meaning he was working his body so he can become a hero, though what kind of hero was the question.

"These are some interesting notes you have here." With a smile, Naruto hands it back to him and asked him if he was looking to enroll at U.A. High School.

"I...Well...Yes!" Smiling, Naruto told the boy to work hard, surprising him. "If you set your mind to it, I think you'll be just fine, as long as you have the guts to not give up. Remember that, okay?" With a smile, the kid told him, "I will! Thank you very much," before bowing and running off home.

 **Kamurocho**

 **5:30 pm**

Ayane found herself thinking about Ray's words, as well as her back and forth progress with herself as she walked along the sidewalk, passing by several happy people. Checking her phone, she sees all the missed calls Naruto left for her, noticing a new one that was sent to her over 9 hours ago. With a sigh, Ayane figured she'd listen to it after a whole month of declining his calls.

 _ **"Ayane, if you're...Sorry. I am trying to find out what else to say to you now. I'm running out of things to say without making it like the other recordings. By now you either deleted the other 34 or you simply refused to listen to them...**_ _ **Look, there are times where people drift apart and...I don't want that to happen to us. I've lost people, you know that. My parents, The Third Hokage, Kureha, and recently...Xenovia**_ (Xenovia has been killed in her own character story. She WILL make a return eventually) _ **. I don't want to lose you, Ayane.**_ _ **I know I don't always understand how or what you're feeling, and I don't always say what you need me to say, but I'm willing to do better at it.**_ _ **Back then, the day you asked me what I wanted to tell you at my place...That wasn't what I wanted to say to you. I couldn't...I was afraid to tell you. But now I'm not. I want to try again, and I want to hear how you feel. I just hope it's not too late for us."**_ The recording stops after that. After listening to it, Ayane thought about what Ray said to her.

 _ **"Listen and listen well, Miss. If the moment comes where you or this boy were to die, and you weren't able to pour your feelings out, you'll regret not doing so when either of you**_ **is** _ **still breathing. You can only keep it bottled for so long. It's alright to be scared, especially in front of the one you love. I'm sure this boy won't see**_ **you** _ **differently, that I can assure you."**_

As she prepared to text Naruto, Ayane heard a large explosion go off in the distance. Ahead, she saw smoke coming from where the police station was and ran there.

 **Musutafu, Tokyo, Japan**

Back with Naruto, he had just got a can of Dr. Pepper out of a soda dispenser. Preparing to open his soda, Naruto is startled by a phone call from Trent, dropping and rupturing it as it sprays soda on the sidewalk.

"Aww man." Ignoring that he wasted 200 yen, Naruto asks Trent what he needed, only to hear gunshots.

 _ **"Naruto, it's the Yomei Alliance! They-...They sent some kind of cyborg and some armed men here for** **Hotaruko!"**_ Trent yelled over the phone. _**"We can't penetrate its armor, and we're losing men! We need help!"**_

"Hang on, I'm on the way now!" Cursing himself, Naruto hurries back. As he ran, Naruto felt some of his power returning. "Not much but it'll have to do!" Naruto applies the chakra he's gathered chakra to his feet as he increased his speed a bit and started jumping from building to building towards Kamurocho. As he made his way there, he called Kasumi.

 **Fuyuki City**

 **Singing Birds Retreat**

Exiting the antique store with Haru, Kasumi hears her phone ring, picking it up.

 _ **"Kasumi, there's an attack happening at Kamurocho Police Station. I'm on my way there but I'm not at full strength. I need you to head there now."**_

"I'm on my way." Turning to Haru, Kasumi tells her she needs to leave right away. Haru simply nods and tells the Tenjinmon kunoichi to be safe.

 **6 minutes earlier**

 **Kamurocho Police Station**

 **Waiting Room**

"Is everything okay over here?" asked Trent, Mr. and Mrs. Rinko telling him and Ellis that they were fine, sounding assured. "We're sorry for bringing you and your daughter here, especially when you and your wife were in the middle of work."

"It's okay, we understand the situation. We also appreciate that you ordered a pizza for us," said Mr. Rinko.

"We promise you, after we've dealt with Kouta and his men, you, your wife, and daughter can go back to your normal lives, and you won't have to worry about them. Until then, please bear with us, okay?" Hotaruko's parents nod at Trent before he smiles at them, turning around and leaving the room, Ellis following behind. Closing the door behind them, he tells the two Future Foundation soldiers to make sure no one else but him enters the waiting room, the soldiers nodding.

"So you're part of the Future Foundation?" asked Ellis.

"Yeah, I wasn't supposed to say, but with Hayashi and his boss, they'll turn this whole place, even all of Kamurocho into a battlefield if it means getting what they want from it. People like them don't care about anything but their own interests and lives. You can't take any chances with them, neither can we. Don't worry, the chief gave it the okay as long as they don't freak out the workers."

"Don't you think your other boss should've sent over more than just 10 soldiers?" Trent tells Ellis that the Future Foundation was currently out in Numbani, a location near Nigeria, handling a Talon attack.

"Don't worry about it. Come on, let's get back to w-" Before he could finish, an explosion shook the building. "What the hell was that!?" Rushing to the office, their eyes widen when they see a large hole where the whole entrance used to be, and a cyborg firing lasers from its eyes, killing four FF soldiers in quick succession as Kouta's men, wearing new and improved UltraTech exosuits arrived to help give the cyborg support.

The cyborg was a fully-armored medieval knight, with the head resembling a heaumeand, its glowing red eyes slanted into a death glare. It had an orange, plume-like extension protruding from the helmet's back. Its frame was designed to effectively mimic the natural motions of humanoid anatomy, and it has random circuitry and electrical tubing showing through its chasis. It had streaks of metallic blue lining the arms, torso, and legs. Yellow highlights and designs are also present on its chest plates, and the metallic blades on its arms were infused with superheated plasma.

"What is that!?" yelled Ellis. Trent recognized it as a Fulgore Mark 02 **(Killer Instinct 2)** , a machine designed to combat superhumans. Fulgore turns to the two cops and fires its eye lasers at them, Trent pulling Ellis away from its range as Kouta's men continue to fire their guns. Taking out his handgun, Trent fires and kills two of Kouta's men from behind cover with his left hand as he pulls out his phone from his right pocket and calls Naruto.

"Help will arrive, but it'll take some time. Listen, Ellis, there's a chance that some of Kouta's men are trying to get to them through the back. There are two FF soldiers posted there, and they may need help."

"What about you?" Trent tells him to go and that he doesn't have to worry about him. "Now go. I'll handle this." Without saying a word, Ellis nods before leaving. As he left, Ellis clenched his teeth in anger for letting this attack happen and keeping his mouth shut.

Outside the back of the station, one of the Future Foundation soldiers covers for his wounded friend as six of Kouta's men continue to fire at them nonstop with UltraTech plasma repeater rifles, the two soldiers using a damaged police car as cover. One of the gangsters throws a plasma grenade at them, the soldier pushing the wounded soldier out of the way before the grenade kills the former in a small but destructive explosion of blue plasma. As the six men prepare to gun down the remaining soldier, Ayane arrives, in her Raging God - Nine of Violet attire **(DOA1 - DOA4 default costume, without the headband)** , launching an explosive ball of purple ki energy that kills one but disorients the other five.

Landing in front of them, Ayane's right hand forms into a knife hand as he produced a serrated field of purple ki energy around it, using it to slice off a gangster's right hand before spin kicking him, delivering enough force to break the man's skull, sending its fragments into his brain, killing him. The four gangsters fire at her, only for Ayane to disappear in front of them.

Without warning, Ayane appeared behind one of them and stabs her energy covered right hand into the back of a gangster's chest before kicking him forward. The gangster on her right aims his gun at her and pulls the trigger, only to miss as the kunoichi ducks and sliced off his right leg before forming energy around her left hand and stabbing him in the back of the neck. The two remaining gangsters fire at her, only to shoot the brick wall before finding their heads separated from their necks. The headless corpses drop to the ground as Ayane releases the energy around her hands before going over to the wounded FF soldier and speeds up the man's healing process with the Mystical Palm Technique.

"Stand down, I'll handle this," she told the soldier before Ellis arrived, surprised to see that the gangsters were taken care of.

"Yo-You're-"

"Oh, it's you...Kayden," said Ayane, having to look at Ellis' badge to remember his name. "Don't worry about back-up coming for them, I took care of it on the way here," Ayane told him before walking past him and entering police headquarters, Ellis following behind. Unknown to her, Haruka was watching her, using an exosuit that provided light-bending invisibility. Contacting Kouta, he told him she arrived before asking him if he should engage.

 _ **"No, not until you have Hotaruko. Only when you lure her to us can you fight her."**_ As they made their way to the office, Ayane asked Ellis what the situation was to have gangsters attack a police station with advanced weapons.

"They're here for a girl." Hearing his response, Ayane tells him how ridiculous that sounded. "Yes, it's ridiculous, but knowing them, they'll do whatever it takes to get what they want."

"Usually cops say they're not sure. You are very informed." Ellis sweats a bit when Ayane told him about it. "This girl, take me to her."

"Huh? Oh, of course!" At the interrogation room, the Rinko turn their attention towards the door as it opens. To Hotaruko's joy, Ayane and Ellis enter.

"Hotaruko?"

"Ayane!" Rushing over to the Hajinmon kunoichi, Hotaruko hugs her.

"Let go please." Backing away, the girl apologized to Ayane. "What sort of trouble are you in now?"

"Hayashi, he's-"

"Hayashi? That ex of yours? How's he not in prison?" asked Ayane, Hotaruko unable to answer as Ellis turns away and hides his guilt-ridden face. "I guess I'll ask him about it." Turning to Ellis, she tells him to stay in the room with the Rinko family while she deals with the gangsters.

Arriving at the office, Ayane found a total of 14 cops and 12 gangsters lying dead on the floor, some dying from a shot to the head or the chest, and a few being incinerated by grenades and/or lasers. Seeing Fulgore stab Trent in his side, Ayane acts quickly, kicking it away before it could kill him before teleporting herself and Trent out of the firing range of the 6 remaining gangsters. Appearing behind and using a cubicle as cover, Ayane has Trent rest his back against the wall.

"You going to live?" she asked him.

"Yeah." Ayane comments on how well Trent handled himself, being up against a cyborg and gangsters armed with UltraTech weapons. "Thanks, I've been in a few firefights you know...You're Ayane, right?" When asked how he knew her name, he told her, "Your friend Naruto told me to find you. To think you came to me. He never told me you'd be this pretty..." Trent groans as his stab wound kicks in, making him feel a stinging/burning sensation.

"You hang here..." Ayane rushed and ran towards Fulgore as it recovered and fired its eye laser at her. The kunoichi narrowly avoids it before sliding under it knocking it forward with a purple fireball. As Kouta's remaining men prepared to fire at her, Kasumi arrived, in her Brilliant Lapis attire **(DOA1 - DOA 4 default with ponytail)** bisecting a gangster with Shrouded Moon before forming an eight-bladed windmill shuriken out of chakra and throwing it, the shuriken spinning around her as it cuts the remaining men to pieces. Seeing her older half-sister, Ayane was surprised.

"Kasumi?" Turning around, Kasumi was both shocked and glad to see her sister here. "What are you doing here?"

"Naruto sent me. He's going to be running late," said Kasumi, preparing to fight alongside her sister as Fulgore shoots out a couple of plasma wave projectile from his blades. Kasumi destroys them with her wakizashi before blocking Fulgore's Blade Dash **(It dashes at the opponent, its right blade hand forward)**. She then repels it as Ayane follows it up by lunging forward, spinning in a corkscrew manner with her feet leading towards the cyborg, knocking it back a bit and leaving a small dent on its chest armor. Quickly, the two kunoichis rushed at the cyborg, throwing several strikes, kicks, and sword swings at it, only to have their attacks quickly blocked by it.

It annoyed Ayane, recalling her fight with Proto-Fulgore over a year ago. Even with Momiji, Naruto, and (Inner) Moka, the machine was nearly unstoppable and almost managed to kill them. It only took Naruto going one-tailed beast mode to destroy it. Then there was the Fulgore Mk. I she fought in the Land of the Yuki-Onna, which took her, Tsugumi, Ruby Tojo, and Kokoa to kill it. Just how strong was Fulgore going to get? When both girls throw a chakra-enhanced punch at the same time, Fulgore activates its reflector field, knocking them back a bit.

"God I hate this damn machine," said Ayane, Kasumi agreeing with her. "Where's Naruto when you need him?"

"Ummm..."

"What?"

"He's going to take a while to get here," Kasumi told her, adding how Naruto wasn't at full strength.

"At a time like this!?"

"It can't be helped, especially when Naruto has to use his full power, even go past his limits, to deal with dangers that threaten the world. You know how he is." Kasumi blocks Fulgore's laser blast with Shrouded Moon's blade before slicing off its right arm with the super-heated blade. Ayane takes a deep breath and exhales 6 small blasts of wind chakra at it, hitting its face six times, the sixth one cracking its left eye. Jumping back a bit, Fulgore assimilates some UltraTech plasma rifles, using wires that were extending from the place its right arm used to be, forming an arm cannon.

Back at the interrogation room, Ellis started panicking as he paced back and forth, telling himself how he could've prevented the attack. Hearing this, Hotaruko asked him what he meant.

"I...I can't keep it to myself anymore! I let Hayashi go, the night that Ayane girl brought him in." Her eyes widening, Hotaruko, angry, asked him if he knew about the attack that was happening now. By seeing his guilt-ridden face, Mrs. Rinko went over to him and slapped him in the face, asking him why he would keep this from the police, and why he would let someone like Hayashi out.

"I had to. I didn't have a choice," he told the Rinko family. "My father, he's sick, very sick, and I didn't have the money to pay to help him get better. Hayashi and his boss, Kouta, offered to help me, in return for my services. If I disobey them, they'll kill my father, and my sister, they would've..."

"While we understand your reasons, but to let something like this happen..." Before Mr. Rinko could say more, they heard a couple of screams coming from outside the room. Following that, Ellis readies his gun as Haruka kicks the door open.

"Haruka..."

"Hello there Ellis, Hotaruko...Hotaruko's parents. If you would be so kind Ellis, please step away from-"

"No..."

"...Did you just say no?" asked Haruka.

"I'm done. I'm not letting you have this girl," Ellis told Haruka.

"Big mistake." Activating his exosuit, the pack on his back dispensed a knife that had yellow serrated energy surrounding the edges of the blade. Quickly grabbing the knife, he sliced off the barrel of Ellis' gun before stabbing him in the stomach. Removing the blade, Ellis drops, blood flowing out of his stab wound as he dropped to the ground, the Rinko family screaming as Haruka walked towards Hotaruko and told her to come with her or he will kill her parents in front of them.

"If you think that I'm going to let you take my d-" Haruka incapacitates him by throwing three knives at him, piercing his shoulders and his gut.

"DAAAAAAD!" Hotaruko yelled as Haruka shocks her with his left gauntlet, knocking her out before taking her away.

Back at the office, Ayane avoids a swipe from Fulgore, though it destroyed her phone in the process. Ayane retaliated by catching Fulgore's left arm before its plasma blades could stab her, with some effort, kneeing the cyborg in the stomach and throwing it in the air, Kasumi appearing above it and repeatedly stomping on her foe until they hit the ground. The Tenjinmon kunoichi jumps back as Fulgore fires its laser.

 ** _"AYANE!"_** Turning around, Ayane heard Mrs. Rinko call to her. The Hajinmon kunoichi tells Kasumi she had to check on the hostage before running off.

"Ayane wait!" Kasumi tries to go after her, only for Fulgore to block her path with its laser. Seeing the two dead FF soldiers, Ayane ran into the room to see Mrs. Rinko crying over her injured husband. The kunoichi tells her to move over as she removes the knives and heals her husband before feeding him a Blood Increasing Pill.

"He'll be fine, he just needs to rest a bit. Where's Hotaruko?"

"Taken," said Ellis, getting Ayane's attention. "By a man named Haruka, an associate of Hayashi's."

 _"That man, he knew of the attack, and he was the one who let that Hayashi go free!"_ The Hajinmon kunoichi forms an angry look on her face as she goes over to Ellis and picks him up by the collar.

"You! You knew about the attack!? And you set him loose!?"

"I had to-"

"Don't give me that shit!" Ayane interrupts. "You sent several good people to their deaths! Even if you weren't the one pulling the trigger or holding the knife, their blood is on your hands!" she told him. "I will make sure you pay for it."

"I know..."

"Where is this Haruka taking her!?" Ellis gives her the location of Kouta's hideout before attempting to warn her of the ambush. However, Ayane kunoichi rushed out of the room to chase after Haruka before he could.

Back at the office, Kasumi is sent flying through several cubicles via a kick from Fulgore, the kunoichi landing next to Trent, who quickly pushes her out of the way, getting stabbed by the plasma claws on Fulgore's left arm.

"Daaahhh!" he yelled as the cyborg pulls out the blades. As Fulgore prepares to kill Trent with its right arm cannon, Naruto, in Sage Mode, grabs it from behind and performs a suplex on it, stunning it.

"Sorry I'm late, Trent, Kasumi."

"Better late than never," said a wounded but smiling Trent, just as Fulgore got back up, attempting to attack Naruto while his back is turned.

"Naruto, watch-" To Kasumi's shock and surprise, Naruto turns around and easily destroys its core, located in its chest with a Sage Mode-enhanced punch. Red in the face, realizing warning him was unnecessary, she told the blond, "Ni-Nice job...", just as the blond exits Sage Mode. When asked if his powers had returned, he told her they were slowly coming back.

"For now, I can only utilize some chakra, as well as enter Sage Mode. I can't use my ki or Kurama's power yet..." he informed the Tenjinmon kunoichi.

"AYANE!" Kasumi tells Naruto how Ayane ran off on her own to check on Hotaruko. "We have to-" Kasumi falls to her knees, too tired and injured to move.

"You and Trent are in no condition to continue fighting. Rest," Naruto told her, promising her he'll go help Ayane. "I have to take responsibility for her."

"...Thank you, Naruto..."

"Trent, call Overwatch," Naruto told the soldier, handing him a personal phone number to one of their headquarters in Japan, telling him to ask for Dr. Angela Ziegler **(Mercy)** , telling him how she was overlooking the development of her medical facility at the moment. "Tell her what happened. She'll be sure to take care of all of you."

"You can count on me, and thanks." Nodding, Naruto heads off towards the waiting room. Once he arrives, Mrs. Rinko asked him who he was.

"I'm a friend of your daughter's...Where is she?" Ellis gets Naruto's attention, telling how Ayane had run off to go after her and Haruka before coughing blood.

"Don't save him. He's the reason all those cops and soldiers are dead, and why this is all happening." Turning to Ellis, he narrows his eyes at him and asked him if it was true. Ellis weakly replied with a yes.

"...Even if he deserves it, I need him alive. Don't worry, ma'am, after this mess is all sorted out, Kayden here will answer for his crimes," he assures Mrs. Rinko before healing Ellis and asking him where Ayane was headed, getting the location from the thankful cop.

"You have to hurry though. That Ayane girl, she's running into a trap," Ellis adds. "Hayashi, Kouta...They plan to..."

"They plan to what?" Seeing Ellis look away in disgust, Naruto's eyes widened when he realized the danger Ayane was about to find herself in. "When did she leave!?"

"5 minutes ago!" Clenching his teeth in anger, Naruto rushed out of the station and picked up the pace as he makes his way to Kouta's hideout. Knowing Ayane, she had a fear of one day being used as a plaything, recalling the first time they met when he held her down and tried to reason with her, making the girl violent as a result **(Road to Journey to Now Chapter 1)**.

 **"Please let me make it in time! Ayane..."** The mere thought of someone touching her made him fill with rage as some of his powers slowly start coming back, responding to his need to save the Hajinmon kunoichi. Kouta's hideout was 17 miles away from Kamurocho. Right now, Naruto had crossed 2 miles within 4 minutes. It'd take him about a half-hour for him to make it there.

 **"I won't let Hayashi or this Kouta have you...I WON'T!"** Naruto's eyes turned red and slitted as his speed increased a bit more.

 **Unnamed Cemetery**

"Aiko, what are we doing here at a cemetery?" asked a curious Lorenzo as he followed a drunk Aiko, who was holding a bottle of Asahi Shuzo Dassai 'Beyond' Junmai Daiginjo Sake.

"I'm here to visit my old man, what else? I'm here to give him a piece of my mind!" yelled an angry and drunk Aiko. "That fucking old, dead asshole!" Aiko takes a swig from his sake bottle before drunkenly making his way towards his father's grave, only to yell at a tree as Lorenzo helps his drunk friend out.

"There you are, you fucking dead bastard! Lying there while Yuno's causing trouble for me." Taking another large gulp from his bottle, Aiko starts yelling at the tombstone. "You just...had to die looking for me! If you just left me alone that night, and not come looking for me..." At this point, the drunk Aiko started crying as Lorenzo listened on.

 _"I would've come back, you know? I know, I've been one of the shittiest people you had to put up with. Late night parties, large spending, the drag races, the girls. Yet, you still warmed up some coffee for me and admonish me before taking me out to drive some cars...I was also thinking about apologizing and straightening myself out for you...Now it's years too late...and you're gone, and..."_ Unable to say more, Aiko tries to take another sip from his bottle, only to find it empty. Angry and sad at the same time, Aiko yells, _"DAMMIT!"_ before throwing the bottle at a tree, shattering it before crying. Lorenzo goes over and rests a hand on Aiko's right shoulder.

"There there buddy, just let the alcohol release all that sadness and frustration..." Suddenly, Lorenzo hears a snore. To his shock, Aiko fell asleep in front of his father's tombstone. "He's asleep that fast!?" With a sigh, Lorenzo figures he should carry him to the car.

 **Five-Story Tower**

 **Fifth Level (Top)**

Entering the spacious and bright yellow room, Haruka pushed a handcuffed Hotaruko into the room, the latter finding herself in the presence of Kouta, Hayashi, and 10 men armed with the UltraTech Exosuits Moira had upgraded. Looking at Hayashi, Hotaruko's eyes widened when she saw the damage Naruto did to him.

"We meet again, Hotaruko. A shame that we couldn't reunite under...better circumstances," said Hayashi, giving her a smile.

"This is the girl you've been seeing," asked Kouta. "I can see why you took an interest in her. She is..." With a wide grin, Kouta began eyeing Hotaruko's assets, from her face to her breasts and ass.

"If I had known you were this kind of person, I wish I hadn't met you!" Hotaruko angrily told Hayashi, though feigns being hurt before laughing maniacally. "Just what the hell were you planning to do with me when I decided to go with you that night?"

"Simple, I was going to introduce you to my friends, who were just dying to meet you, whom you've just met..." Realizing what he had planned that night, Hotaruko called Hayashi a bastard.

"That's what they all say...Also, haven't you heard the saying, "Sharing is caring." I care for my friends enough to share nearly everything with them. As soon as Ayane arrives, I'm going to share her body with all my friends, right after I have my time with her. And then, I'll have my time with you after you finish watching what I do to her." Her eyes widen in shock and worry for Ayane, knowing she was being used as bait to lure the kunoichi into a trap.

"If only you'd come with me willingly..." Hayashi adds before being notified of Ayane's arrival. "Speak of the devil, she's here." Haruka takes it as his cue to engage the kunoichi. When Hotaruko tries to yell, one of Kouta's men tapes her mouth shut.

 **"Ayane, don't come to rescue me...Don't..."**

 **11 miles from Kouta's Hideout and counting down**

Naruto found himself gaining a little more speed as he found himself able to detect chakra and ki, sensing Ayane's chakra.

"Don't let me be too late..." he told himself.

 **Outside of the Five-Story Tower**

Arriving near the forest where Kouta's hideout was, Ayane closed her eyes as she focused on any irregular sounds up ahead. She could hear some circuitry generating energy as Kouta's men primed their armors and weapons for use. By the number of sounds being produced, she could tell she was up against a total of 11 men.

 **"Since they just activated their weapons, they must be aware that I am here...I'll have to carefully take them by surprise without alerting them."**

With a single leap, Ayane silently lands on top of a long branch without making it sway as she observed one of her unsuspecting targets. The Hajinmon kunoichi formed a fist in her left hand as she channeled and focused her ki to create a serrated blade of purple energy and dove down on her unsuspecting prey. However, she heard a knife being thrown at her. Quickly, she knocked it away before it could hit her, at the cost of being detected as lands on her feet, the gangster she was about to kill turning around and firing at her with his laser rifle. Ayane rolls out of the way, hiding behind a tree as he shoots at it, getting his friends' attention.

 **"What!?"**

 **[I beg you (Instrumental) by Aimer]**

Ayane is unable to ponder her thoughts as a knife lands next to her and starts to violently discharge energy. Quickly, She jumps away from it as it explodes, destroying the tree she was hiding behind and sending small pieces of wood flying, a few giving her minor cuts on her left leg and arm that quickly heals as she hides behind another tree.

"I've never had the luxury of fighting a ninja before, especially one as beautiful as yourself," said Haruka, who constantly tossed a knife up in the air before it falls into his hands, an arrogant smile on his face. "Men, be sure those rifles are set to stun." Nodding, the ten men under Haruka's command check their rifles before resuming their hunt for the kunoichi.

"Catching you is going to be so fun, considering our plans for you and that girl we have captive..." Ayane clenched her teeth in anger as Hayashi continued speaking. "It's been a while since I've had any fun with Kouta and Hayashi. Maybe this time they'll include me in when I finally-" Not wanting to hear more, Ayane dashed out of cover as she launched a ball of ki energy at Haruka, who allows it to hit. To Ayane's shock, the exosuit Haruka was wearing absorbed her attack as the circuitry on it produced an intense yellow glow. Quickly, the pack on the back of Haruka's suit produced three knives for him to quickly throw at the kunoichi, who dodges them by moving to her right. Anticipating this, Haruka threw a fourth knife at a branch above Ayane that ricochets off of it and knocks one of the knives back. Noticing this, Ayane performs a cartwheel as the knife flies past her, being caught by Haruka after. Ayane rushed at the knife thrower, avoiding the knife swing by sliding under him before kicking him forward towards a tree. The gangster on Ayane's left aims his rifle at her.

Turning towards him, Ayane pushed the gangster's gun up with her left hand so the barrel fires harmlessly into the sky as two more gangsters show up and accidentally fire stun rounds at their own ally when Ayane uses him as a human shield. Ayane tries to execute the now-stunned gangster, only to be forced to kick him forward and move back when Haruka throws another knife at her. This gave Haruka enough time to get in close and engage her in close quarters as he wields a knife in both hands.

Ayane found herself unable to fight back as she focused on dodging and blocking, avoiding blasts meant to stun her while narrowly avoiding a swing of Haruka's knives, blocking and redirecting Haruka's hands. Finding herself unable to fight back, Ayane creates distance between herself, Haruka, and the gangsters surrounding her who were constantly firing stun rounds at her.

"Running so soon? How unlike you..." Haruka told the kunoichi as he gave chase, his men following behind. As Ayane jumped from tree to tree, she narrowly avoids some stunning blasts, though one of them shoots and hits the back of her right leg, numbing it as she lost her footing and dropped to the ground. As she tried to get up, she noticed a knife flying towards her, moving to the side before it could hit. Hitting the ground next to her the knife's handle released a purple gas that made her cough. As she stopped coughing and swatting the gas away, she rolls out of the way to avoid three stun blasts. When she tried to use Earth Release to form a wall in front of her, she found herself unable to use her chakra, or her ki, before moving behind a tree to avoid the oncoming fire.

"Why can't I utilize any jutsu and ninpo?" Ayane asked herself before she noticed Haruka above her, preparing to swing his blades at her. With her right leg stunned, Ayane kicked her left leg off the ground to jump away from Haruka.

"Do you like that little concoction you inhaled? It not only shuts down a ninja's ability to use their ki but their chakra as well for three full hours. Without that ninja magic of yours, you're just easy prey." Angry at being called easy prey, Ayane propelled herself forward as she puts her left knee forward, aiming to knee Haruka in the face, only to have it blocked by Haruka's right hand. As he attempts to grab the kunoichi, the latter quickly performs a front-somersault kick, the back of Ayane's left foot knocking him in the back of his head, briefly stunning him as she swipes the knife in the knife thrower's left hand and swings the blade at him. While Haruka puts his arms up to block, Ayane managed to slice off the man's right pinky and ring finger off, earning a painful scream from Haruka before making a run for it.

"You...You bitch!" yelled a now angry Haruka. Turning to his men, he furiously told them to find her. "Don't let her get away!"

 **6 miles from Kouta's Hideout and counting down**

Naruto's speed continues to slowly increase as he pushed himself to go faster, jumping down to the end of a downward slope, performing a forward roll before running once more, not wanting to waste precious seconds. He looked worried when he couldn't detect Ayane's charka or ki earlier. Picking up the pace, Naruto ran past a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X driven by a third-year Shujin student going out for a ride with his girl.

 **Outside of the Five-Story Tower**

Ayane swung the knife in her left hand upward diagonally, deflecting a knife thrown at her by the angry Haruka before kicking dirt into the knife thrower's eyes, blinding him, and avoiding more stun shots. Resting her back against a tree, the Hajinmon kunoichi heavily breathes, keeping tabs on the minor but troublesome wounds she received, one of them being a long jagged fragment of an explosive knife that found itself embedded in her left thigh. Covering her mouth with her right hand, she pulls it out as she made sure to muffle her scream.

"Tired yet?" asked an annoyed Haruka, having finished wiping the dirt out of his eyes, following the small trail of blood You were all confident and strong when you had all that power. Is this all a ninja from the Mugen Tenshin is capable of doing once that power is stripped away? Running and hiding? Resorting to dirty tactics!?" Ayane looked annoyed when Haruka said that. Thinking about her next move, She stabs the fragment into the tree behind her before avoiding 7 shots from Haruka's men by rolling out of cover. Following that, she caught the knife thrower's exosuit-enhanced right kick before it could hit her face, feeling the weight from it.

"I will make sure you pay for cutting off my-" Ayane silenced Haruka by stabbing him in the tibia with the knife she took earlier. Screaming in painful anger, he knees Ayane, knocking her to the ground before attempting to stomp on her. The Hajinmon kunoichi rolls to the left to avoid it before rolling to the right to avoid Haruka's other foot and kicking him in the balls and then boosting herself up to knee him in the nose. However, this left her open as he grabbed her by the throat with his left hand and discharged some energy from his exosuit to electrify her, smiling with glee as the kunoichi screamed in pain. Despite using the number of watts used for taser guns, Ayane was still conscious **(Due to being Raidou's daughter, and having the same energy as him, it provides her with some strong natural resistance, though it's not as strong as her father's)**.

Deciding to up it, hoping to fully incapacitate her, Ayane finds her opportunity as she used the constant stream of electricity coursing into her body to redirect it back at Haruka, simply putting her hands on his head, shocking him. The force of it sends both herself and Haruka flying away from each other. As she planned, she managed to move Haruka to where she needed him to be as the knife fragment she left in the tree pierced the back of his head, killing him. Ayane's back hits the tree hard, knocking the wind out of her a bit.

 **[Music Ends]**

As she painfully got up, the tired and injured Ayane got hit in the right arm by a stunning shot, followed by four more shots to the back, numbing her for a few seconds before using her force of will to resist it and dodging a couple of shots. Following this, an electric beam wrapped around her left arm as it electrocuted her with three times the amount of electricity than the dose Haruka gave her. As she tried to resist it and tug at it, a few more beams shot out and ensnared her other arm, as well as her legs. Unable to resist, Ayane dropped to the ground, weakened from using up her energy and willpower. As the men gathered around her, one of them contacts Hayashi.

"We have her. However, Haruka was killed so he could allow us to capture her."

 _ **"Kouta's not going to like hearing this. Bring her here.**_ " Nodding, the gangster hangs up before telling his subordinates to carefully bring her to Kouta's office. As they make their way to the tower, one of them voiced how he looked forward to getting inside her, having a thing for girls with exotic hair colors.

 **Five-Story Tower**

 **Fifth Level (Top)**

The 10 men under Haruka's command arrive with a weakened Ayane in hand as the Hayashi ordered them to chain her arms and legs. Hotaruko looked at Ayane with worry as she tried to resist them, only for Hayashi to take out a stun stick and shock her in the neck.

 _"I'm sorry Ayane..."_

"Not so tough now, are you?" the arrogant Hayashi taunted the kunoichi as she tried to fight the men trying to chain her limbs, making the mistake of getting close as Ayane headbutts Hayashi in the face, breaking his nose. Reeling back in pain, Hayashi, angry, calls the kunoichi a bitch before kicking her face, drawing blood from her lip before shocking her again.

"AYANEEEEEE!" Hearing someone yelling the kunoichi's name from outside, Hayashi could tell right away that it was Naruto's voice. Turning to Hayashi, Kouta yelled, "I thought she was acting alone!?"

"Shit, it's the one who did this to me..." Hayashi informed his boss. Hearing Naruto, Ayane formed a look of fear. She didn't want the blond to see her like this, all helpless. In a desperate manner, the kunoichi struggled to break free from her chains.

"Don't worry, with the gas Talon gave us, he won't be a problem," Hayashi told Kouta, sounding confident. Going over to his desk, Kouta pressed a button on his speaker and told the men residing in the fourth, third, and second levels of the tower to go out and kill Naruto, though Hayashi convinced him to not let the men they were about to send kill him, but beat him with an inch of his life.

"Any reason why?" asked Kouta, curious.

"I want him to live. I want to see his face as your men bring him in while I take Ayane in front of him. Then we kill him one he's had enough." Kouta voiced how he liked how he thought as he finished telling the men his orders. Walking away from his desk, he asked three of his men to set up the video cameras.

 _"Hayashi, don't do this, please,"_ Hotaruko begged. _"You can do whatever you want with me, but don't do this to Ayane."_

"How nice of you to offer yourself. However, Ayane here not only defied us, but she's killed one of our own. Now she must pay with her body."

 **Outside of the Five-Story Tower**

The red-eyed Naruto was met with resistance in the form of 20 gangsters and growing armed with UltraTech exosuits, retractable blades, and guns. Firing at him, they found the enraged Naruto to be impervious to their assault as he threw a punch with a concussive force that knocked away three men and killed two by blowing off their heads and some of their limbs. Avoiding a sword strike, Naruto quickly disarmed the gangster and killed him with one swing of the blade before killing four more with it and throwing the weapon at another's head.

One of the men, armed with Moira's gas, managed to take him by surprise, hitting him with it. However, to their shock, Naruto was immune to it. His immense concern for Ayane, coupled with the return of some of his near-godlike powers rendered it useless **(The gas won't work on beings with god-like ki or chakra)**. The blond grabs an attacker and used him as a battering ram, charging through 8 men before throwing him at a tree, snapping his neck against it.

"Out of my way!" Forming a Giant Tatsumaki Rasengan **(Basically a giant red Rasengan)** , Naruto continues charging ahead. In front of him, five men get ready to absorb the technique, only to find the power to be too much for their armor to absorb as it hits, shredding those foolish enough to be in front of it into nothing. Following this, Naruto disarmed a gangster of his gun and kills him with a shot to the head before doing the same to 12 more before overloading its cells and throwing it at 5 of Kouta's men, blowing them up.

 **Five-Story Tower**

 **Fifth Level (Top)**

"Smile for the camera Ayane," said Hayashi as three of the ten men working for Kouta pressed the record button on the three cameras around them. "Tonight is a special night for you, Hotaruko, me, and Kouta." After saying that, Hayashi sprayed her with a powerful aphrodisiac gas of Kouta's design. Suddenly, Ayane felt a tingling sensation all over her body as her face felt hot.

 **"What...What is this?"** Ayane thought to herself as she tried to fight this strange feeling.

"The thing I sprayed you with, it's a very special aphrodisiac that stimulates a woman's body," Hayashi told her before walking up to Ayane and forcefully ripping off the top of her shozoku as well as her fishnet vest, exposing her breasts before telling some of his men to help rip of her clothes. Ayane did her best to fight them off while trying to resist the aphrodisiac, but it was all in vain as she found herself wearing nothing but her armguards and tabi-style boots. Screaming in anger and fear, Ayane was helpless as Hayashi ordered one of the men to hold her down as he **(Hayashi)** prepared to go behind her and pull down his pants.

"I wonder, are you a tight fit? You probably are, since you're a virgin," said Hayashi. The men watching prepared to pull down their pants, wanting to pleasure themselves once Hayashi starts. In her mind, Ayane was screaming, knowing she was about to feel the suffering her mother, Ayame, faced when Raidou raped her.

"Ayane!" Hotaruko screamed. Before Hayashi and the men around Ayane could lay a hand on her exposed body, Naruto crashed through the window as Kouta, Hayashi, and the ten gangsters in the room looked up to see the blond look down on them. Looking at Ayane, Naruto had a shocked expression on his face as Ayane looked at him, tears in her eyes, her body exposed, and her limbs chained down.

 _"Naru...to..."_ Seeing her in that state, Naruto's anger rose as he lands on the floor. Hayashi looked scared as he looked at Naruto.

"Im-...Impossible, how are you here? What happened to the gas!? You should be powerless!"

 **"HAYASHIIIII!"** Naruto yelled, sounding demonic as he rushed at the gangsters pinning Ayane down and violently killed them with his demon claws, spraying blood around the room's walls and furniture. Developing a deeper fear of the blond, Hayashi ran out the door, yelling at some men rushing up the stairs to go kill the blond. Reverting to his normal form, Naruto, knowing that more were coming and that he couldn't fight and protect the girls at the same time, Ayane being in no condition to fight, intimidates Kouta and his surviving men with a territorial glare before freeing Ayane of her chains and grabbing Hotaruko, making an exit through the same window he used to break in. Landing safely on the ground, Naruto asked Hotaruko if she can run as he broke her restraints with a karate chop.

"Yes." Naruto tells her to run in front of him while he carries Ayane in his arms, putting his vibranium jacket around the kunoichi to cover her as he and Hotaruko ran out of the forest. As they ran, Naruto used his chakra to heal Ayane's injuries and envelop a chakra cloak around Hotaruko to make her temporarily bulletproof.

 **Unnamed Road near Kouta's Hideout**

Lorenzo, sighed as Aiko, lying down in the back of the car, drunkenly confessed his insecurities involving his choices, and if his father only pushed him knowing it'd make him happy, not just to live up to his legacy. He also confessed that he wanted to be like his old man when he was younger, but pursued racing cars because his father loved to collect and ride cars. Before Aiko could continue telling Lorenzo more, the latter pressed his foot on the brakes when Naruto and Hotaruko rushed out of the forest and stopped in front of their car.

"Naruto?" Turning to Hotaruko, he told her to sit in the back with Ayane, while Naruto sat in the passenger's seat. When Lorenzo and the drunk Aiko asked him what was going on, Naruto simply told Lorenzo to drive like their lives depended on it, just as Kouta's men fired at them. Startled, Lorenzo pressed his foot on the gas pedal hard as the car sped off.

 **Five-Story Tower**

 **Fifth Level (Top)**

 _ **"The ninja and the girls got away in a white**_ ** _Nissan GT-R Nismo_** _ **, boss."**_ Angry, Kouta ordered some men to chase after them before screaming in anger at having his hideout broken into and looking like a coward in his own home, a place where he was supposed to feel like a god. For Naruto to ruin it, he vowed to make sure he pays with his life.

 **Nissan GT-R Nismo**

"How is Ayane back there, Hotaruko?" asked a worried Naruto. The girl tells her Ayane was okay, telling Naruto he arrived before they could do anything to her.

"However, she's unresponsive," she adds, Ayane's head resting on her lap as Aiko, a bit sober, asked Naruto what was going on.

"Let's just say that a faction of Yakuza wants to kill us, and more," Naruto told the racer, adding the part where they just escaped their hideout. Looking back, Aiko informed them of three red cars chasing after them. Hearing weapons being drawn, Naruto tells Hotaruko and Aiko to keep their heads down as Kouta's men shoot at them. shattering the window on the back.

"Lorenzo, do you have a gun in this car? I would teleport and kill them, but I'm not quite there yet."

"No, sorry." Two of the three cars manage to sandwich Lorenzo's car between theirs as their passengers pulled out their guns, ready to fire. At the last second, Lorenzo quickly but gently pressed the breaks, moving the car back and making the two cars destroy each other in the process via gunfire. This surprised Naruto and Aiko, the latter asking him where he learned how to do that.

"I've watched a lot of racing movies, mainly the **"Fast and Furious"** movies. I've also watched a few drag races in person." Lorenzo replied before increasing speed once more, the remaining red car in hot pursuit.

 **Kamurocho**

"Geez, that driver of theirs is relentless!" said Lorenzo, who had been trying to evade their pursuers for three full minutes now.

"Lorenzo, slow down a bit and take a right up ahead," said Naruto, the driver nodding as he slowed down a bit and turned the steering wheel to the right, the red car behind them doing the same. However, since it was going too fast, it spun in a near 360 before getting hit by a truck on their left, killing the gangsters in the car upon impact as Aiko looked back and said, "Holy shit!"

"Turning while speeding will have that result. Had Lorenzo not decreased his speed and turned, we would've been in a very bad accident ourselves," Naruto told Aiko. Looking at Lorenzo, he told him he did well.

"Thanks...Can we do it again?" Naruto had a surprised look on his face for a bit before Lorenzo told him he was kidding, but admits he enjoyed the thrill of being behind the wheel and how he enjoyed the chase a bit. "So, what now?"

"...We can't go to our place and risk getting people we know involved, especially Hinami..." Thinking about it, Naruto decides to call Kazuma.

 _ **"Hello?"**_

"Kiryu-san, it's Naruto." Kazuma tells him how he was just about to call him, telling him how one of Kouta's men let slip the location of his hideout, Naruto telling him they already knew, and how they just escaped from it.

 _ **"What? Did you kill him?"**_

"No, I couldn't since I had to get the hostages they took out," said Naruto. "Listen, some friends and I need a place to stay for tonight. Do you know any places we can-"

 _ **"Yes, there's a clan of Yakuza who have friendly ties to the Tojo Clan. The Kuzuryu Clan, lead by Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu (Danganronpa). I'll give you the address to their headquarters. Let them know that I told you about it."**_ Naruto thanks Kazuma for his help. _**"In the meantime, I'll see if I can ask the head of the Tojo Clan to help you and the police with this Kouta problem of ours. It won't be easy, but after hearing how they attacked the police station...the cops won't be able to handle it."**_

"Agreed. See you tomorrow then, Kiryu-san."

 **Kuzuryu Headquarters**

 **Guest Room (Naruto and Ayane)**

 **6:55 pm**

After telling Fuyuhiko about their situation, the head of the Kuzuryu allowed Naruto, Hotaruko, Ayane, Aiko, and Lorenzo to stay in his home, the blond thanking him. While Lorenzo and Aiko shared one guest room, and Hotaruko got a room for herself, Naruto shared a room with Ayane, who was still silent after what almost happened to her. As Ayane took a shower, Naruto decided to call Hinami.

"Hey Hinami, it's Naruto."

 _ **"Naruto? Did you find Ayane-san?"**_ Naruto tells her he found her, Hinami sounding happy. _**"Did you tell her yet? Did you?"**_

"Ummm...She's...She's not looking very well, but I'll tell her...Listen, I won't be home for a while again. You think you can stay at Kotegawa's?" Hinami tells Naruto she can do that since she likes Yui. "Great, and hey, I promise you, I will take Ayane to see you, okay?"

 _ **Okay!"**_ said a happy Hinami. After saying goodbye to her, Naruto hung up before forming a worried expression on his face.

In the shower, Ayane couldn't help but replay how helpless she was, and how she almost found herself as not only someone's plaything but other people's. Worst of all, Naruto saw her in a pathetic state. Ayane bangs her fists against the wall before silently crying by herself. After finishing, Ayane, dressed in a black tank top and white slim jeans, got out as Naruto asked her if she was okay. No response. Seeing the look in her eyes, Naruto felt pained. If he only came earlier, she wouldn't have...

"...Listen, I'm going to take a shower now...If you're ready to talk, we can talk, okay?" Ayane remained silent still as Naruto took his jacket off. While the blond took his shirt off, he didn't notice Ayane take out a kunai from the holster on the bed. As Naruto prepared to take off his pants, he realized he hadn't returned Ayane's headband.

"Oh, that reminds me, I should-" Turning around, Naruto noticed that the window leading to the balcony was open. His eyes widening, he quickly ran out to see Ayane preparing to plunge the knife into her chest. Before she could, Naruto wrapped his arms around her from behind as the kunai stabs through his left hand.

"What do you think you're doing...Ayane?" he asked, rain lightly pouring down on them as blood flowed down his wound and dropped onto the wet brick floor, mixing with the small puddle of raindrops.

 _"Let go, Naruto..."_ Ayane told the blond, tears in her eyes. _"Just let me do this. You can just-"_

 **[Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel II. Lost Butterfly OST -** **let's go home together / I will be her Hero / what he has believed]**

"I'm not letting you do this Ayane." Naruto interrupts. "I'm not going to let you take your own life...I won't." After saying that, Naruto pleads for her to tell him what was wrong.

 _"What's wrong?"_ Ayane knocked him back with an elbow jab to his stomach as the teary-eyed girl turned around and expressed herself, looking angry.

 _"You're the one that's wrong with me...I was...I was fine the way I was before I met you! I never cared for anyone, not even my sister, Kasumi! Only focusing on myself, and no one else! Then you came into my life that night and...and...I couldn't accept it at first, but after meeting you, hearing about your past...I found myself getting a soft spot for you. I found someone who understood me. As days, weeks, months, even years passed, I slowly started forgetting the anger I felt all those years ago when my mother revealed the truth about my birth._ _Suddenly, I found myself falling in love for the first time, and I started caring about people other than myself and being friends with them, and it didn't feel so terrible. But after Raidou's return, and having you see me in such a weak and helpless state before you tossed him around like he was nothing, I...I felt that you made me weak. My love for you made me weak...That was why I told you those things, so I could distance myself from you and go back to the cold-hearted person I was before._ _It helped that Kasumi left the village. I found myself not caring if she was my sister, that I was back to my old self again. Yet, the part of me that still cared for Kasumi always won over, no matter how much I wanted to plunge my sword into her heart. You gave me a heart that told me not to do it. Following the year after that, after my mother removed all the anger I had for Kasumi, after Genra, I_ _found myself going back to you. I wanted to try and be more than just a friend to you. But I feared I wasn't good enough for you, yet I kept hoping you'd wait for me, that maybe you felt the same way I did. To be expected, I found you and Hinata...kissing. It...broke my heart...You broke my heart. Seeing you two together...I accepted the part of me that told myself, "I was too late. I lost to Hinata. I'm not the kind of person who belongs with you. I'm not strong enough to stand by your side. Starting from tomorrow, I'll act as if I never loved you at all. That it was just a crush, nothing more. I'll just treat you how I've always treated you. I'll find someone else who'll make me happy. I'll forget everything that's happened between us until now."..._ _BUT I COULDN'T DO IT! Just the thought of_ _seeing another person disgusted me, terrified me even. I couldn't accept that I lost to Hinata, that I still had feelings for you...Even when I distanced myself once again, after seeing you and Hinata together again, I still felt lost, stuck in one place in my mind, not knowing which steps to take...I didn't know what to do at all! After having you see me in such a helpless state, and the difference between our strength. I just...I can't..."_ Naruto said nothing as Ayane cried her eyes out after letting out how she felt.

 _"You don't need someone as pathetic as me,"_ the teary-eyed Ayane told Naruto, clenching her fists as she looked down on the red-bricked floor.

After a few seconds of silence, Naruto pulled out the kunai embedded in his left hand and threw it aside before the wound heals as he slowly approached the Hajinmon kunoichi, taking the dark purple headband out of his right pocket.

"The morning after we met, you asked me what I just said to you, after recording you apologizing to me in a cute but embarrassed manner. I said, "...I think I love you." As I got to know you a bit more, work with you, "I think" turned into "I know"...After that, I started wondering, "When's the right time to tell her?", "Do I deserve her?", and "Did she feel the same way?" Ayane's eyes widened in shock as Naruto slowly started to express how he truly felt towards her.

"I struggled with those thoughts, like you, even after the Fourth Great Ninja War, after the DIO Incident...everything up till now. Now...I can look you in the eyes and tell you..." Standing in front of the vulnerable kunoichi, Naruto said, "I love you, Ayane...I always had." Ayane tried to hold it together after hearing what she always wanted Naruto to say to her. To know he felt the same way towards her.

 _"Even...Even if I'm the bastard daughter of Raidou?"_

"Even if you're his daughter, it doesn't change how I've always felt towards you," Naruto answered. "I'm aware of how much I've hurt you during the years, even when I was oblivious to it, and I'm sorry for not noticing how you felt, and for not telling you how I really felt sooner." Following this, Naruto puts his right arm in front of him, the purple headband in his hand, wanting to give it back to the purple-haired kunoichi. "Can you forgive a complicated jerk like me for making you feel this way, and for letting you go through all of that pain alone?" Covering her mouth with her left hand in order to stop herself from crying, Ayane struggle to reach out with her right hand for a bit before managing to hold Naruto's hand, the purple headband now being held by both ninjas as the blond pulled her towards him and wrapped his left arm around her in a hug, rain continuing to pour down on them.

As Naruto held her in his arms, he told her it was okay for her to cry, telling her he was here for her, and that she was safe. Ayane rests her head against the blond's chest before moving her left hand away from her mouth, crying her heart out, releasing all her emotions **(Anger, Sadness, Fear, Joy, and Love)** through it.

 **[Music End]**

After Ayane finished crying, she and the blond went back inside, the two drying themselves off with a separate towel. Ayane had resumed wearing her purple headband, something that made Naruto smile as he watched her dry her hair. It made her look complete.

"Hey, Naruto...About you and Hinata..."

"Yeah, we're not seeing each other...Hinata's a nice girl, and yeah, I knew her before you...But...It was one-sided. Even when she kissed me and we...had sex." Ayane stopped drying her hair before turning to Naruto, a surprised look on her face. Naruto thought she'd be angry about it, but she was very calm, to his surprise.

"I guess it's to be expected. Hinata has a pretty nice body..." Ayane comments before sitting next to Naruto.

"True...But like I said, it was one-sided. I didn't feel any love towards her. While I'm aware that I could grow to love Hinata if I tried hard enough for her...it didn't happen." Hearing this, Ayane felt a bit sorry for Hinata.

 **[Lemon]**

"Did you ever have any...sexual relations with...any other girls? After Hinata?" asked Ayane. Looking at her, Naruto tried to see if she was looking for a reason to get angry with him. "I just want to know. You weren't seeing anyone at all, so I'm not mad."

"...Yeah."

"I see...Were any of them good?"

"They were all special in their own ways...But I don't think you'd like to hear-" Before Naruto could continue, Ayane pushed him onto the bed and got on top of him, the blush never leaving her face as she kissed the surprised blond on the lips. This lasted for ten seconds before they parted.

"Ayane-" The kunoichi interrupts him again by kissing him again. After 7 seconds, they parted lips.

"Sorry Naruto, but back at Kouta's hideout, Hayashi sprayed a gas with aphrodisiac effects. I tried to fight it off, but..." Ayane was too turned on to continue as she kissed Naruto the third time. This time, she inserted her tongue into his mouth, rubbing against the blond's tongue. As Ayane moaned into the shirtless blond's mouth, she could feel the bulge in the blond's pants, rubbing her crotch against it, earning a gasp from him.

Parting lips, Naruto attacked Ayane's neck with wild and hungry kisses, making her moan louder as his lips felt her soft skin. Ayane squeaked as she felt Naruto's hands grope her butt. She could feel him lick and nip at her neck with great abandon and loved it, tilting her head to the side and letting him continue, her hands running through his hair.

Outside of the room, Hotaruko, wanting to check on the two to see if they were okay and call them to dinner, was about to knock on the door when she heard Ayane's moans coming out of the room, blushing as steam came out of her ears.

"Oh my..." Walking over to her, Aiko asked her if she was going to call them for dinner. "Let's leave them alone. They're in the middle of "making up," she told him.

"Making up?" Realizing what she meant, Aiko tells Hotaruko they could bring some food up for them later.

Back inside their room, sitting up, Ayane rested her legs at the sides of Naruto's waist as she lifted her tank top and pulled it off. Only the black lacy bra Pekoyama **(Danganronpa)** lent her remained, but not for long. Naruto watched as the kunoichi unclipped it from behind and threw it aside, freeing her DD breasts from their "restraints" before she got off his lap and laid in front of his crotch, reaching out and grabbing the waistline of Naruto's pants and boxers and pulling them down, freeing the blushing blond's fully erect and throbbing nine-inch cock.

 _"Oh my…"_ she whispered, staring at it. "So big..." an amorous smile formed on her face as she wrapped her fingers around his shaft and stroked it.

"Of all the girls you've spent the night with, who was a good sucker?" Naruto moans as he told her Moka was the best, Ayane figuring it was due to her vampiric nature. "Is that so..." Ayane moved her face closer to the tip and gently kissed it, making it twitch before pressing her tongue against it and licking all around the cockhead. Finally, she took all nine-inches of Naruto into her mouth, the blond's eyes widening. Noticing Naruto's eyes on her as she sucked him off, Ayane smirked knowing he was enjoying her mouth as she increased the speed she was going.

 **"Holy shit, she sucks just as good as Moka..."** Naruto thought as he tried to resist the urge to put his hands on her head and thrust into her mouth. His grip on the sheets tightened as Ayane's mouth continued sucking on his engorged member. Unable to take it anymore, he placed his hands on the surprised girl's hair as he continuously pushed himself deeper in her mouth.

"Ay-Ayane!..." Naruto moaned, feeling her tongue rub against his shaft as Ayane bobbed her head slowly. He rolled his head back as he reveled in the feeling of kunoichi's mouth wrapped around his dick. Suddenly Ayane stopped and released him from her mouth. Looking at her, Naruto wondered why she stopped.

Ayane just smirked as she cupped her breasts and nestled his cock in between them before moving them up and down. She watched as Naruto closed his eyes and rolled his head back, letting out a loud moan.

"I guess this sort of thing is your favorite?" Naruto moaned yes as the purple-haired kunoichi smiled and continued pumping the blond's shaft with her perfect tits. Out of all the girls who've done it for him, Ayane immediately took the top spot.

"S-So soft...!" he said gripping the sheets tighter. Not wanting to let her do the moving, he said, "Ayane...lay on the bed." Stopping, the two changed positions as Ayane laid her back on the bed while Naruto got on top of her and furiously fucked her cleavage, his hand pushing her breasts together. Ayane would lick the cockhead every time it appeared out from her tits before it submerged in between them as she continues to tittyfuck him.

"Ayane...I'm...I'm...CUMMING!" With one last thrust, Naruto fired a thick load of cum into Ayane's open mouth, some of it hitting Ayane's face and breasts before shooting three small spurts of it into her mouth after. Ayane swallowed the cum in her mouth before Naruto took her by surprise by taking off her pants, following her panties before lifting her legs up, resting them on his shoulders, Ayane's wet lower lips in front of his face.

"My turn." Right away, Naruto pressed his lips against Ayane's pussy, making her cry out with pleasure as he pushed his tongue into her. Ayane released passion-filled moans and cries as she groped and played with her own breasts, enjoying the feeling of the blond's tongue exploring her womanhood. Naruto's tongue moved fast. Like a snake, it flicked and slithered inside her warm slit. Although Ayane's toned thighs were pressed tightly against his ears he could hear her blissful cries and didn't let up. Naruto began to focus his attention on her clit, pressing his lips against it, causing Ayane to buck her hips harder.

"Hah...Hah...Hah...HAAAAAAHHHHH!" With that last scream, her back arched as came to a mind-blowing orgasm, Naruto lapping up her juices as Ayane's mind turned to mush and she started panting heavily, a small trail of drool on her lip.

"Ayane...I can't take it anymore. I want to be inside you..."

"Alright, but I want to be on top..." Changing positions, Naruto found himself lying on his back once more as Ayane's pussy hovered above his awaiting cock, the kunoichi looking nervous about it, even hesitant after Hayashi's failed attempt to take her.

"...There's no need to rush Ayane. We don't have to do this now if you're not-"

"No," she interrupts, telling him she waited too long to have the blond to herself, and that she won't make that mistake again. Slowly lowering herself, Ayane felt the tip of Naruto's member touch her slit, letting a breath escape her lips. Naruto, his eyes closed, clenched his teeth as he felt his girth slowly but surely penetrate Ayane's wet folds, Ayane gasped again as she lowered herself more, pushing Naruto's shaft into her, deeper and deeper. Finally, she lets out a scream as the blond broke her hymen, some blood coming out signify her loss of virginity.

 **"S-So tight!"** Naruto thought, his member fully sheathed inside the Hajinmon kunoichi. Tears flowed down Ayane's face as she lets out a sniffle. Immediately taking notice, Naruto asked her if she was okay, a concerned expression on his face.

"Yes...I'm just happy is all..." she told him, wiping her tears away before putting her hands on Naruto's chest, moving her hips up and down at a slow and steady pace, moaning in ecstasy alongside the blond. She loved the feeling of him in her. He filled her up completely. This wasn't just out of lust or desire for each other, but the love they had for each other that was reciprocated, after so long.

"OH KAMI! YOU'RE...SO...WONDERFUL NARUTO!" Ayane moaned in between gasps, with euphoric bliss. As Ayane rode him, Naruto's eyes roamed over the kunoichi's writhing form. Seeing Ayane racked with pleasure made her even more beautiful. Her body glistened with sweat as she bounced on him, her hair flailing. He then lowered his eyes towards her bouncing breasts. He placed one hand on the bed to balance himself as he sat up and captured a hardened nipple in his mouth. Ayane arched her back and held Naruto's head, her legs wrapping around his waist as he suckled on her nipple and started roughly pounding her.

Ayane's mind began to fog up as she could feel her climax nearing. Her body went on autopilot as it bounced on Naruto's lap. The fire inside her turned into an inferno. Her screams of passion and bliss echoed throughout the room. She held onto him tightly as her pussy clenched his cock. Her juices flowed out like a waterfall as she was nearing her peak.

Naruto pounded her hard and fast with great abandon, never letting up. He didn't want to until he was spent, and he was close. He tore his mouth away from her nipple and kissed her lips, muffling her moans. His tongue pushed into her mouth, ravaging hers. He explored every inch of her mouth as he held her slender body as close to him as he could, feeling her breasts press up against his chest, as he relentlessly pounded her, making her scream into his mouth.

"I'm… going to… OHHH! KAMI... NARUTO! UNGH! NARUTO!" Ayane convulsed as her orgasm took over her. Her words became incoherent as her body was racked by orgasmic bliss, her mind on cloud nine. Naruto felt her climax as her juices gushed around his cock spilling out onto him. His thrust became more erratic as he felt his own climax approaching.

"Ayane! I'm gonna…" he couldn't finish but Ayane understood. He tried to pull away but Ayane had a vice-like grip on him and wouldn't let him go. "Ayane…"

"NO! I WANT IT!" she told him. "I WANT THIS!"

"AY...AYANE!" Naruto roared, firing his load into her after one final thrust. Ayane was pushed to her peak again as she felt his cum flood her pussy, cumming once again, mixing her juices with his as they gushed out of her pussy.

The two stayed still as they held each other panting heavily. Naruto laid his head back onto the bed with, Ayane collapsing on top of him. She held him as she slowly formed a smile on her face.

"Looks like I'll need a second show-" Suddenly, Naruto changed position so that he was behind Ayane, thrusting into her once more, his hands on the surprised girl's waist.

"Na-Na-Naruto!? What are you doing!?" asked Ayane, moaning as Naruto constantly pumped his cock into her again.

"Sorry, Ayane! But I'm not spent just yet!" he told her. "I also wanted to try something."

"Try something?" Ayane's eyes widened when Naruto surrounds himself with Kurama's red chakra, the blond's eyes turning red and slitted, his yellow hair now glowing red. Naruto's thrusts were twice as strong and slightly faster than the first time, the bed shaking violently from Naruto's movements.

"Naruto...Ah-Ah-Are you sure it's wise to use the fox's chakra for so- HAAAH -omething like this!?" Ayane asked, her head resting against the pillow as she gripped the covers for life.

"It should be fine!" Naruto replied, the last part making him pound harder, earning a gasp from the kunoichi. "I'm slowly regaining more of my powers, figured I'd be a bit selfish and use a little bit for this!" Ayane's moans became louder with each powerful thrust, Naruto's cock pushing deeper into her, her juices flowing around his cock.

"Ayane, you feel so incredible!" Naruto moaned moving faster, holding the girl's waist ever so firmly.

"Harder," she told Naruto, wanting him to plow her cunt. "Fuck me until you're spent!" Naruto complied with the request. He pulled himself out until only the head of his cock was still inside. Ayane felt the loss of him and looked at him.

"Naruto-...AHH!" Ayane screamed in surprised and bliss as she felt him thrust into her hard and strong, hitting her g-spot over and over again. Ayane used her left hand to pull Naruto in as she and the blond opened their mouths and let their tongues rub against one another. As their tongues rubbed against each other, Naruto rested his left hand on the bed as his right hand groped Ayane's right breast.

Ayane's movements become more erratic as Naruto continued to pound her like an animal, turning their tongue play into a steamy kiss session. Naruto moaned into Ayane's mouth as he felt her pussy clamp down on him. He pushed in as deep as he could before he and the kunoichi moaned in each other's mouths, the blond filling her with his seed in a powerful orgasm, shooting load after load into her.

Naruto fell back as he and Ayane's back rested on his chest, both panting heavily, the former's cock exiting the latter's pussy as his cum slowly flowed out of her. Naruto's hair returned to being blond as his eyes went back to their normal blue.

 **[Lemon End]**

"Naruto...I love you," Ayane told the blond, Naruto smiling, telling her he was wondering when she was going to tell him that before asking if her hips were okay. "O-Of course they are, even with that red chakra, it'll take more than that to break them, ya know..." Naruto looked at her, surprised as Ayane realized what she did and turned red.

"Ya know, huh?" Ayane looked away as she told him how it came out like that. "I got it, I got it...Hey Ayane?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"After we deal with Hayashi, Kouta, and the Yomei Alliance together...let's go out on a date, not as a one-night fiasco, but as boyfriend and girlfriend." This surprised Ayane, hearing Naruto tell her that.

"Are you absolutely sure that you want...someone like me as a girlfriend?" she asked him.

"I'm sure," said Naruto, sounding resolved. "I can't promise you that things will be the way you want it to go, and I can't promise you that I can be the Naruto you want me to be. But one thing I can promise you...is that I love you more than any girl I've ever known, and that's not a lie..." Ayane smiled when Naruto confirms his love for her.

"By the way, if you suggest a threesome with another girl or boy, I will kill you," Ayane told him, letting him know she only had eyes for him and that she didn't swing that way.

"Noted. Although...Would you be okay with clones? I AM a one-man army." Turning red, she tells Naruto that was the only exception to it.

"Noted." Smiling, Ayane pecks him on the lips before getting up and telling him they should take a shower together and order some room service. "Right, I'll join you after calling for someone to bring some food up, okay?" Nodding, Ayane leaves to go to the bathroom as Naruto sat on the side of the bed and took his phone out of his pants pocket. With their relationship now official, both he and Ayane smile to themselves.

 **"I'm his girlfriend..."** Ayane thought to herself as she turned on the warm water in the shower.

Outside of Naruto and Ayane's guest room, Hotaruko had her right ear against the door, her face red. She heard everything. Hotaruko had hoped that when she came back to their room door, a three-shelf catering cart of food in tow, they'd be done. Arriving with more food, the maid asked Hotaruko what she was doing. Having been caught, Hotaruko panics, telling the maid, "I DIDN'T HEAR ANYTHING!" before running back to her room, confusing the woman.

* * *

 **Finally, this chapter is finished, and I can write the next one. I wanted to end it with a cliffhanger involving Naruto crashing into the room through the window, but that's not me. I wanted to end it with Naruto and Ayane finally coming together. It's been too long, and they needed this.**

 **Yes, Naruto met Izuku Midoriya, who has yet to inherit One-For-All and take the entrance exam U.A. They will encounter one another again several months from now. How will be a surprise. With Naruto, he has the strangest ability to encounter people, simply out of coincidence.**

 **Yes, they fucked. Figured if Ayane was still under the influence of the gas, Naruto would be the one to fuck the effects of it out of her. The aphrodisiac had some otter meat odor as one of its ingredients.**

 **Regarding what Ayane told Naruto during her confession, regarding seeing another person to forget him, she was talking about Eliot, agreeing to go on a date he asked her out on. However, she felt disgusted at the thought of seeing someone she didn't feel the same way for and left before the two could get seated at a restaurant he was treating her to.**

 **Ayane will have her revenge against Hayashi and Kouta for their attempted (but failed) assault on her in the next chapter. This time, she is not alone, and she's prepared, Naruto providing a solution to counteract the effects of Moira's gas. The chapter picks up after this one, the two villains thinking, "Fuck it, fuck the Yomei Alliance, we're going to use the weapons we got for the alliance to take what we want and get our revenge. It's ours since we did the deals while the higher-ups sat in their chairs and did nothing. We'll raise Kamurocho up in flames and we don't care who gets hurt."**

 **With Naruto's words, he confirms he loves Ayane. While there are a few girls who are beautiful in their own right, who have actually gotten him to fall in love with them, they don't hold a candle to the purple-haired kunoichi, who had won him over since the first time they met.**

 **With Naruto telling Ayane what he said to her all those years ago, I felt it was a nice touch since it was the day he fell in love with her before telling her there's no doubt in his mind that he was in love her.**

 **Yes, Ayane is revealed to be straight. She's not bi if you're all wondering. If a girl kissed her out of nowhere, she would be surprised and grossed out or annoyed.**

 **Regarding how Naruto's powers returned for this chapter, he's still not at full strength, but he's still very capable, enough to handle Fulgore Mk. II and Kouta's men without any effort at all. With the power that came back, I felt that Naruto could afford to be selfish for this moment and utilize Kurama's chakra for sex, using it on Ayane, who, spoilers here, enjoyed it. Just think about how amazing it'll be if he used Six Paths Mode on her.**

 **Lastly, I'd like to credit Oshigami for adding the exception to Ayane being against a threesome, mainly since Naruto can clone himself. **

* * *

**With the relations he's had, I will list what each girl he's been with was good at, sex positions included (check out the sexpositons dot club):**

 **Hinata Hyuga (Doggy Style, Missionary, Cowgirl, Blowjob, Titjob)**

 **Moka Akashiya (Outer and Inner)(69, Blowjobs, Titjob, Missionary, Cowgirl, Reverse Cowgirl, Sitting Position, Cat, Aquarius, Workout, Narcissus)**

 **Mizore Shirayuki (Blowjobs, Anal, Doggy Style, Reverse-Cowgirl, Aquarius)**

 **Xenovia Quarta (Titjob, Handjobs, Blowjobs, 69, Spooning, Magic Bullet, Standing (Rammed against the wall), Aquarius, Indian Style, Workout)**

 **Hisui E. Fiore (Handjobs, Blowjobs, Titjob, Anal, Cowgirl, Doggy Style, Precipice, Butterfly, The Crab)**

 **Airi (Queen's Blade)(Blowjobs, Titjob, Cowgirl, Doggy Style, Anal, Crab, Standing (Rammed against the wall))**

 **Alleyne (Queen's Blade)(Missionary, Blowjobs, Titjob, Handjobs, Cowgirl, Doggy Style)**

 **Haru Okumura(Blowjobs, Titjob, 69, Handjobs, Missionary, Cowgirl, Doggy Style, Eraser, Lap Dance,** **Standing (Rammed against the wall), Caliper)**

 **Seishirou Tsugumi (** **Blowjobs, Titjob, Handjobs, Missionary,** **Lap Dance, Superman, Caliper, Cowgirl, Dragon, Honeymoon, Spider, Backwards Cowgirl)**

 **Yumi (Senran Kagura)** **(Missionary, Blowjobs, Titjob, Reverse Cowgirl, Cowgirl, Doggy Style)**

 **Ayane (Everything)**


	6. Chapter 5 (FINAL)

**This is the final chapter for Vulnerable Butterfly. Ayane and Naruto are now a thing so...NaruAya?**

 **Anyways, while this will be the final one where it wraps everything up, there will be a standalone epilogue, which takes place after this story, which will end in a time skip that sets up a future crossover with Dragon Ball Z that re-tells the Buu Saga. Naruto will have an active roll in helping to defeat Kid Buu, among other things. This IS the 458th Universe after all, and Naruto's not one to stay in the sidelines. This will follow the whole story of the Buu Saga, with changes to accommodate the crossover.**

 **Ayane has been through a lot, and as much as it sounds crazy, it makes me happy that I can help a fictional character find love and overcome her own difficulties with being honest with their feelings and more.**

 **The music for when Ayane revealed how she felt towards Naruto was from a scene in "Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel II. lost butterfly", where Sakura revealed her insecurities to Shirou during a rainy night before she and Shirou walked away hand in hand, passing by Rin and Archer. Playing that background music in my head while reading that one scene was very deep, in a way pierces the heart and/or soul in that not only hurts but makes you want to give the kunoichi a hug.**

 **Regarding the epilogue to Vulnerable Butterfly, it'll be called "Fulfilled Butterfly"** **. I can't reveal a lot about it, but I will say that a pretty big sex scene is in it. The two really go at it, like lustful creatures in the biggest heat of their lives.**

 **I feel that stories about Naruto and Dead or Alive can be good, but you have to put A LOT of thought into how to put these two different things together. For me, and for others, they'd either put the two in the same universe or do some bullshit teleport to another world thing. I am one who'd rather put the two in one universe than make a Naruto character go full isekai. If you're going to do an isekai, read "The Rising of the Shield Hero."** **That is one of many isekais done right. Also, I am not a big fan of Sasuke and Ayane. If I see that, I honestly frown at it. I CANNOT picture her with Sasuke. I will respect the writers in the pairings, but I won't like it. Just my thoughts.**

* * *

 **[気持ちの整理出来るまで** **(Until you can organize your feelings) by Maiko Fujita]**

 **Five-Story Tower**

 **Fifth Level (Top)**

Kouta was throwing a fit as swiped away all the stuff on his desk **(Computer, telephone, lamp, pen)** , threw his chair at a wall, breaking it and leaving a large crack on it, and breaking his desk, all while screaming profanity as Hayashi and his men watched.

"Not only did those girls escape, the one who freed them was Naruto Uzumaki! The hero ninja that's been on the news lately! Not only did he make a fool out of us in my own home, but he's also immune to the gas you obtained from Talon! Worst of all, he knows who we are, where we are, and he's going to destroy everything! EVERYTHING! Had I've known that the girls you brought in were associated with him, I never would've allowed you to bring them here in the first place Hayashi!" Furiously pointing at Hayashi, he asked him how he was going to fix it.

"It's not a problem."

"Not a problem? That young bastard just ripped through our men like they were nothing, even with the altered UltraTech weaponry at our disposal! And have you read the news? He defeated the leader of Talon, Doomfist. Fucking Doomfist!" yelled an enraged Kouta. "How do you propose we handle this!?"

"We have something better. The Warmongers," said Hayashi. He explains how Talon managed to obtain some of the metal and tech that came from a destroyed Reaper machine that called itself Sovereign over two years ago when it attacked the space station called the Citadel, making all sorts of advanced weapons and machines from its pieces.

"Are you fucking suggesting that? The Yomei Alliance won't be happy with us if-"

"Fuck the Yomei Alliance," said Hayashi. "We did the deals, not them. Not those fucks who let people like us do their work. No, all the stuff we got from Talon is ours. We get to decide what we want to do with them. In fact, not only can we get rid of that fuck Naruto Uzumaki, we can find and reclaim those girls, take over Kamurocho, and kill all the high-ranking Yakuza families, the Yomei Alliance included. With all the power we have, we can make all of that happen!"

 **Kamurocho**

 **Tenkaichi Street**

"Yes, I remembered to eat dinner," Kazuma said to Haruka on the phone, his adoptive daughter asking him if he was almost done with his work. "Yeah. I'll be back by tomorrow. If you want anything while I'm here I can-...Are you sure?..." As he listens to what Haruka had to say, The Dragon of Dojima stops in his tracks when he finds himself surrounded by five armored gangsters armed wielding collapsible shock sticks.

"Alright. Listen, I need to go now. I'll call you again later...Bye, Haruka." Hanging up, Kazuma puts his fists up as he prepares to fight his attackers.

 **Kuzuryu Headquarters**

 **Guest Room (Naruto and Ayane)**

 **7:29 pm**

After Naruto finished a call with Kirigiri, he and Ayane sat on the edge of the bed, enjoying the food Hotaruko had brought them as they told each other what they've been up to the past month, sharing some laughs and smiles during it all. When asked if she was coming to Hinami's birthday, Ayane gladly accepted the invite, admitting she cared for Hinami. Finished with their food, the purple-haired girl decided to ask the big question.

"Who did you sleep with before you and me? I know you slept with Hinata, but who else was there before me?" Naruto looked hesitant as he sweats a bit and looked away.

"I'm not going to be mad," Ayane told him, sounding calm about it, even curious. "You were single after all."

"...Since we're a thing now...I slept with Moka, three times, the first time in the shower, the second time in her bed, and the third one was a three-way with her and her friend Mizore." Ayane turned red, imagining the three going at it, even picturing the vampire girl making out with the yuki-onna. When asked if he slept with Inner Moka, the blond answered with a yes. "Moka's the girl who was close to being my girlfriend...She's pretty special."

"That we both know already. I have to admit, I was scared of her taking you from me the most," Ayane admits. "Please continue." Next, Naruto told her he slept with Xenovia twice, prior to her death. After the bluenette, the blond had sex with Hisui, Ayane asking how he managed to bed the princess of Fiore, the blond ninja telling her how she came onto him. Next up was Airi, a wraith, admitting he didn't expect it and that he woke up to her having sex with him during a mission.

"So this Airi girl "took advantage" of you while you were asleep?" Naruto turned red, admitting it was a surprise, but not a bad one. After Airi, he bedded Alleyne, an elf warrior, who was on the mission where he met the wraith. After Alleyne was Yumi, a kunoichi from Gessen Girls' Academy and a friend of his. "After her, I had a little fling with Tsugumi."

"Tsugumi!?" yelled Ayane.

"Whoa, what happened to not being mad?"

"I'm not mad, just surprised. My...My sister is interested in her..." Naruto had a shocked expression on his face when Ayane told him who Kasumi's love interest was.

"Tsu-...Tsugumi's the one she's interested in?"

"Yeah...Is there any more or is that it?" Finally, Naruto told his girlfriend about the one-night stand between him and Haru, adding how she was the last one. "So you slept with eleven girls?"

"Twelve, since you and I just had sex," Naruto responds.

"I...I honestly thought you'd have a larger amount of girls who've laid with you." When asked how many she thought he slept with, she told him, "Fifty-Seven."

"FIFTY-SEVEN!?" yelled Naruto, comically astonished by Ayane's number. "How'd you come up with a number like that!?"

"It was the first number that came to mind," said Ayane.

"Still, fifty-seven, that's outrageous Ayane..." After three seconds of silence, Naruto smiled, telling his girlfriend, "It's nice to talk to you like this again." Ayane told the blond the feeling was mutual.

"...Are you sure you want to do this? Be in a relationship with me?" Naruto once again assured Ayane he was absolutely sure.

"It's nice to see you all concerned, seeing as how you always act tough around me and others." The kunoichi lightly jabs the blond's right arm once and tells him she was always concerned even if she never showed it.

"...Us aside, I should focus on bringing down Kouta and Hayashi. Kirigiri and the Future Foundation are going to be helping us." After Naruto brought up the two, Ayane asked him how he was able to use his chakra even though he was hit by the gas. "That was supposed to nullify my abilities? The only explanation is that I have Kurama inside me, who provides me immunity to it. Simple as that."

"So it all comes down to you being a jinchuuriki...I want to confront them again, but..." Seeing Ayane's fists clench in frustration.

"...Ayane, do you remember how I shared my chakra with you and the Allied Shinobi Forces during the Fourth Great Ninja War?" The purple-haired girl recalls that moment clearly, turning to him and asking him if he can still do it now with the reserves he had at the moment.

"Just as long as I don't overdo it, it will work. Otherwise, I would've suggested giving you some of my blood." Ayane's eyes widened in surprise when the blond said that.

"Give me some of your blood?" she asked. "That's pretty extreme."

"It's just a suggestion. My blood is Type B+, which can be given to you, ya know. Moka had some and it didn't kill her, unlike the experiments Fairy Tale **(RxV)** used it on."

"I know..." When asked if she really wanted to help take out Hayashi and Kouta, after what she went through earlier, Ayane assured Naruto she wanted to see it through, adding how this time around, she wasn't going to do it alone.

"Since we're both in agreement, we should tell the others."

 **Dining Room**

 **7:38 pm**

"What!? You're sure about this!?" asked Hotaruko, having just finished hearing Ayane tell her that she was going with Naruto to end Hayashi, Kouta, and the men under them, Pekoyama, Fuyuhiko, Aiko, and Lorenzo listening on in silence.

"Yes, I am," said the kunoichi.

"But what if you-"

"Everything will be alright," Naruto interrupts, assuring the girl that he would not let anything happen to her. "Besides, Kiryu-san, the police, Trent, Erebus Squad, and the Future Foundation are going to help."

"Wait, you're having government agents helping out with this?" asked Lorenzo.

"Of course," Naruto said. "Hayashi and Kouta are in possession of illegal UltraTech weapons, weapons I have been tracking down with Kirigiri. I also got word that some very powerful people in Tokyo have secretly been funding Talon and other shadow organizations, smuggling illegal tech to gangs for profit." Turning his attention to Aiko, he told him his brother, Yuno, was part of it.

"Wait, you're serious!?"

"I'm afraid so," said the blond, sounding very serious. "Kirigiri managed to obtain footage of him privately dealing with not only the Illusive Man but Doomfist as well."

"This...This is...My younger brother..."

"I'm sorry," said Naruto, the sorrowful expression on his face telling him he meant it. "I felt you needed to hear it since he's your younger brother..."

"...He was an asshole, that much I know, I just...never saw him as one to work with criminals and terrorists," Aiko responds. "I just don't know why."

"I guess you should ask him that once Kirigiri and her men arrest him," Naruto suggests, including how The Ultimate Detective was preparing to go and apprehend him herself at his building. "If she's going to arrest him, I want to be there," he told everyone. "I want to see what face he makes before he's put behind bars. Can you arrange for someone to pick me up?"

"Yeah, I'll call Kirigiri and-" Before he could finish, Pekoyama noticed an UltraTech missile heading towards them from outside the window, telling everyone to take cover. Quickly, Naruto disappears and reappears outside, grabbing the missile and throwing it back at Kouta's men, the explosion killing five of them and an armored van. Ayane joins in, infused her limbs with ki and tearing through some of the men's' exosuits like paper. When one of the men aims his rifle at the kunoichi, Naruto throws a tech shuriken at him, the projectile blowing up upon impact, killing him before disarming one of the men, grabbing his rifle, and shooting him with it. As Ayane formed a whip of chakra to grab the men, Naruto would use the gun to shoot them once Ayane pulled them towards them, sometimes using the butt of the gun to smash their faces in.

"So what sort of cake do you have in mind for Hinami's birthday?" asked Ayane, telling Naruto to watch out before she vaults over him and kicks a gangster in the face, shattering his helmet. The purple-haired girl ducks so Naruto could fire at a large gangster wearing heavy armor, overheating the gun in the process. Unwilling to wait until it cools, Naruto throws it like a shuriken, hitting a gangster in the neck with enough force to snap it.

"I was thinking of making her a sponge cake," he told the kunoichi, smacking his hands on a man's ears to discombobulate him and sending him flying into the side of an armored van with a strong kick, leaving a huge dent on it.

"Hinami likes ice-cream cake," she told him, surprising the blond as Pekoyama arrives and sliced a man's hands off, lopping off his head after, kicking it towards another guy. "I take her to Baskin-Robbins once a week. She always orders ice cream cakes. Milk chocolate is her favorite."

"Ice-Cream Cake?"

Yes, ice-cream cake," said Ayane, killing the last gangster by snapping his neck with her thighs, performing a backflip and landing on her feet after. Finished with getting rid of the gangsters, the three return to the mansion, finding a few more men lying dead, having been taken out by Fuyuhiko, Lorenzo, and Aiko, Hotaruko only managing to knock one of them out with a vase.

"It's going to take a day or three to fix up my dining room," said Fuyuhiko.

"You can send the bill to me," said Naruto. "Least I can do since you let us stay here a bit."

"Appreciate it. It seems Kouta and his men are going after not just the Kuzuryu Clan, but other Yakuza clans, using the tech they smuggled. Do they really think they can take us down with those toys of theirs?" said Fuyuhiko. Just then, Naruto gets a call from Kiryu, informing him of Kouta's attack on Kamurocho.

 _ **"He's piloting a pair of giant robots with Hayashi and destroying some of the buildings in Kamurocho's Champion District**_ _ **. I'd go there myself, but I'm dealing with some pests he sent to kill me."**_ Naruto tells him to leave Kouta to him and that it'd help if Kazuma dealt with the grunts. _**"Will do. You watch yourself, okay?"**_

"I should be telling you that, Old Man," Naruto told The Dragon of Dojima, hanging up after.

"Alright, let's go get those bastards," said Ayane.

"One last thing." Naruto pressed a button on his watch, waking up IKAROS, his AI. "IKAROS, can you send over my suit and Item 1H?" **(IKAROS is an acronym for Intelligent, Knowing, And Reliable Operating System. IKAROS will eventually become the Ikaros from Heaven's Lost Property. Her origins involve Naruto and Tatsuya creating an AI from scratch)**

 _ **"Right away, Master."**_ Within a few seconds, two drop pods come from the ceiling and plop in front of them, Fuyuhiko asking him if he was going to pay for the ceiling, floor, and roof damages as well. "Of course." Ayane's eyes widened when the pod, Item 1H, opens in front of her, revealing a suit Naruto made for her **(Nocturnal Butterfly from Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge)**. It also contained her two short swords and flash kunais.

"You made this for me?"

"I was working on this while I had writer's block. It's lightweight but provides pretty good protection while increasing your maneuverability. I also had Old Man Muramasa improve upon your kodachis.

"Was this supposed to be a birthday present?" she asked him in a curious tone, Naruto telling her the suit was an early one and he had several more.

 **A change of clothes later**

 **On the way to Kamurocho**

Ayane, now wearing her new ninja outfit, ran beside Naruto in the rain as they made their way to Kamurocho. While Hotaruko and Lorenzo stayed at the mansion under the protection of the members of the Kuzuryu Clan, Aiko was picked up by Kirigiri before they made their way to Tokyo by car to apprehend Yuno. Looking at Naruto's suit, the kunoichi decided to talk to him about it. Mainly...

"Naruto, after this is over, I think we should build you a new suit."

"You want to build a new suit together?" he asked her, making sure he heard right, Ayane confirming it and informing him of some ideas she had for it.

"I was thinking of using graphene or diamene bonded with Dyneema. Not only will they mix together to make a thin, flexible and durable suit, but it'll costs less than the materials you usually use to make them while providing good defense." Naruto, interested in her idea, tells her, "We should talk more about it after this, but I like your idea...How's the suit?"

"I like it, though I wonder if you intentionally made it look...sexy." Naruto turns red, telling her it wasn't intentional. "Hehhhh..."

 **Kamurocho**

 **Hotel District**

 **[Dead or Alive 1 - Ayane's Theme]**

Arriving, Naruto destroys a blockade in front of them with a Rasengan, blowing ten of Kouta's men away before transferring some of his chakra into Ayane, who takes out her kodachis and starts cutting down three men in front of them. The fourth one she kicks into the air, with Naruto performing a diagonal upward slash with a kunai in his left hand. When he's about to be fired at by three of Kouta's men, Ayane throws three separate flash kunais at them, hitting them in the chest. The flash kunais explode in a controlled blast of purple light, leaving only their legs behind, Naruto appearing beside her by teleporting. When a gangster tried to run Naruto over, the blond simply throws a shuriken at the front wheel, making the rider lose control before falling forward to meet Ayane's foot as she kicked him down to the ground, Naruto ending him with a chakra-infused kunai to the chest.

Continuing their way to the Champion District, the two find themselves surrounded by sixteen armored gangsters, weapons aimed at them. The two are joined by Kasumi, who fires a blast of ki at four of the sixteen gangsters, killing them and helping the two make quick work of the rest. Sheathing her wakizashi, Kasumi quickly rushed to her sister and hugged her.

 **[Music End]**

"I'm so glad you're okay!" she said, having been worried sick after Ayane ran off on her own. "Don't ever do that again! You had me worried sick!" Ayane, red in the face, apologizes to her sister before telling her she had some news to tell her.

"Naruto and I are boy-...boyfr-...We're something."

"You mean-"

"Yeah, we're a couple," Naruto told her, forming a smile on his face as he puts a hand on Ayane's shoulder. Kasumi had stars in her eyes as she hugs her sister again and said, "Oh my little sister finally confessed her love and got herself a boyfriend!"

 **"I was the one who said, "I love you" first..."** Naruto thought, deciding not to tell Ayane's sister to not ruin the mood. "Since you're here Kasumi, does it mean you've fully recovered?"

"Oh yeah, I'm 100% combat-ready," said Kasumi, keeping her arms wrapped around an annoyed Ayane. "Dr. Ziegler is something."

"Where's Trent?" asked Naruto. Kasumi tells them he and Erebus Squad were making their way to the Champion District, where Hayashi and Kouta were. "While Kirigiri and a few of her men are on their way to arrest Aiko's brother, the rest of the Future Foundation's troops are spread out in a few of Kamurocho's districts to protect important Yakuza families that are being targeted by Kouta and Hayashi.

"Looks like my rescue of Ayane and Hotaruko pissed them off real good," said Naruto.

"Kirigiri told me and Erebus Squad to head to the Champion District to take care of the two leaders. As soon as I sensed yours and Ayane's energy, I rushed here as soon as possible."

"We should head there now and end this before more people get caught up in this," said Naruto, Ayane and Kasumi agreeing with him before making a left and running straight towards the Champion District, the blond giving the sisters his chakra along the way. As Kasumi followed Naruto and Ayane from behind, seeing the two running side by side made her smile.

 **"It was about time..."** As they made their way to Erebus Squad, the three ninjas assisted the troopers of the Future Foundation in taking down Kouta and Hayashi's men.

 **Champion District**

"Sorry to have called you out of retirement for this Old Man," Trent told Ray, the two firing at Kouta and Hayashi alongside their troops before activating their hard light generators to form a dome of energy around them to take the hit.

"I don't mind," said Ray, smirking as he told the young soldier, "I was having some rather boring neighbors over for dinner and needed a reason to leave the house."

Hayashi and Kouta were in two separate silver armors five times the size of an average human. They were designed to look human, with the exception of their skull-shaped heads. The armors were made from a mix of metal used to make the Fulgore units and the parts of the Sovereign Reaper, and the cores were powered by Eezo **(Element Zero)** , which produced powerful kinetic barriers that stopped the bullets from hitting it.

"Switch to phasic rounds! It'll get through their barriers!" ordered Ray, Erebus Squad quickly switching ammo types before firing at the two armored gangsters. Even when the rounds got past the barrier, they did little to damage the two leaders' armor. Kouta's armor raised its right hand up as its fingertips heat up, swiping its hand downward and destroying Ray's rifle when he puts it in front of himself as a means of protecting himself.

"SHIT!" yelled Ray, sounding surprised as he braced himself for a punch from Kouta. It never connects. Instead, he gets saved at the last second by Ayane, Naruto striking Kouta from above with two sage chakra-enhanced Rasengans. While he managed to dent its back armor, it was only by a little and failed to destroy or expose any circuitry.

"Why is it that space metal's high durability is bullshit?" asked an annoyed Naruto, who quickly avoids an arm swipe by performing a front flip.

When Hayashi tries to blast the blond with his armor's mouth laser, Kasumi destroys it with a focused ki blast, covering its head in smoke as its mouth laser blows up, Hayashi yelling, "Dammit!", yelling the word again once Trent fires at the armor with his rifle's kinetic grenade launcher attachment, sending it flying into one of the buildings. As Naruto and Kasumi helped Erebus Squad fight off the two gangsters, Ayane took the time to talk to Ray, having recognized him after just saving his life.

"You're-"

"Well well well, if it isn't the Little Miss," said Ray, sounding happy about meeting again. "You seem to be different from last time. Did something good happen?" In an embarrassed tone, she tells Ray, "I...I have a b-...bo-...I'm in a relationship!"

"Oh, glad to hear it," said the old man. "So who is it? This lucky boy?" The redness never leaving her face, she points at Naruto, to Ray's surprise. "You're serious!? You're the girl who's been hurt by Naruto?"

"You...The boy you mentioned when we first met..."

* * *

 **"He's trying to reach her, wanting to make things right. However, she's playing hard to get from the way he talked about her. Told me she's very stubborn but sweet when I started asking about her."**

 **"He must be crazy for falling for a girl like her...But, if she's worth it, then I hope he and this girl get together."**

* * *

Remembering their talk, steam comes out of the flushed kunoichi's ears.

"I can't believe we were talking about..." Ayane couldn't finish her sentence, the embarrassment was too much for her, Ray forming a smile on his face from seeing the stoic girl act her age.

"If it helps, I'm just as surprised as you. Now that you two are official, never let each other go, okay?" Surprised by these words, Ayane smiled with confidence, nodding her head yes before saying, "I promise."

"Great, now let's go help out your boyfriend of yours."Naruto stops a punch from Kouta with his left hand, who was left in denial as the blond effortlessly twists the armor's arm, forcing it on its knees. Naruto then lifts it over his head and slams it down behind him, Kouta hitting his head on the controls in front of him. Recovering, Kouta finds the blond using his bare hands to try and pry the chest open to reach the cockpit. Thanks to the material used for the armor, Naruto was taking a while to rip it open, jumping back from Kouta when he tries to attack him with his heated claws.

Getting up, Kouta gets shot at by a few Erebus Squad soldiers, one of the phasic rounds managing to go through the hole Naruto had made and hits the gangster in the right shoulder. Kouta screams in pain, shouting how bad it felt to be shot for the first time.

Back with Hayashi, Kasumi forms a shield of chakra in front of her to protect herself from Hayashi's punch. While it protects her, Kasumi's shield shatters, allowing the gangster to ensnare her with the armor's right extendable fingers.

"Oh no you don't!" yelled Ayane, slicing the fingers wrapped around Kasumi, who thanks her before she and Ayane avoid a flurry of blasts fired at them by Hayashi's wrist-mounted laser turret, the turret set to stun. Thinking he can disable them with Moira's gas, Hayashi has the armor's mechanical head spew it out from its mouth. His eyes widened when the two sisters fired at him with a combined ninpo blast.

"How...HOW DID IT NOT WORK!?"

"Unlike last time, I am fully prepared for you!" yelled Ayane, infusing her ki into her right blade, she swings it fast, sending a wave of energy at Hayashi, leaving a diagonal dent on its chest armor. "This time, I have people who have my back! That armor, no matter how tough the metal, won't stop me from dragging you out of it!"

Feeling more of his strength coming back, Naruto produced two clones, the blond casting a wind ninpo as the clones separately cast a lightning and fire ninpo, the three attacks combining into one before hitting Kouta, both taking out the armor's barrier and destroying its left arm. When Kota tries to swipe at him with his armor's remaining arm, Naruto lowers his posture into a braced position, leaning forward with his right arm and leg as if exaggerating a heater-shield guard stance, absorbing the power of the blow before destroying the other arm with a palm strike that was strengthened by the power he absorbed.

Following this, Naruto's two clones had shared his chakra with Erebus Squad before dispersing, Ray ordering his squad to give it everything they got as they fire at Kouta with chakra-enhanced phasic rounds, the bullets slowly but surely penetrating Kouta's armor, forcing him to eject from the armor's back to save his skin. Before he could run, a shirtless Kazuma Kiryu punched him in the face, knocking him down.

"KA-...KAZUMA KIRYU!? HOW!? I SENT MY BEST MEN TO-" Kouta stops talking as soon as Kazuma threw an empty bottle of **Staminan Spark** in front of him.

"Took me a while to dispatch them all," said Kazuma, asking out loud why skilled fighters like them would work for scumbags like Kouta and Hayashi, looking down on the fat gangster with a calm and ever-so-intimidating face. "You never learn, do you, Kouta?"

"I won't...I WON'T BE LOOK DOWN UPON BY SOMEONE LIKE YOU! NEVER AGAIN!" yelled a scared but angry Kouta, who pulls out a gun on the Dragon of Dojima. Naruto stops him by throwing a shuriken that curves and cuts off Kouta's gun-holding right hand, the gangster holding up his stump as he screams in pain.

"WHY...WHY DID THIS HAPPEN!? HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!?" he yelled in pain.

"How?" said Naruto, walking over to Kouta with a stoic expression on his face. "Karma was going to catch up to you sooner or later you selfish bastard. You also tried to lay your hand on someone precious to me. Your years of being able to get away with your crimes are over. Now, I will execute you myself."

"D-Don't kill me! I can give you anything! Any-" Kouta doesn't finish as Naruto rips off Kouta's left arm, hitting him in the face with it.

"There's nothing you can give me that will stop me or anyone from killing you. No one's going to spare your soul for what you did to countless others. Save all that pointless begging for the Devil in Hell." With that, Naruto ends Kouta by slitting his throat with his left gauntlet's hidden blade before knocking his head off with a spin kick.

"KOUTA!" yelled Hayashi, shocked by the cruel death Naruto gave him. When he tried to go after the blond, he finds one of the armor's legs sliced off by both Ayane and Kasumi, having used their respective weapons to perform a synchronized sword swing, making Hayashi fall forward. When he tries to get up, Ayane knocks him down with a chakra-enhanced fist. The kunoichi then enhanced her fingertips with the remainder of Naruto's chakra before forcing the back of the armor's cockpit to open, catching the man's hand before he could spray Moira's gas on her, throwing him onto the ground behind her.

"You're the last one..." said Ayane, remembering the humiliation he gave her and how he made her feel powerless.

"What now, huh? Are you just going to use those abilities of yours to kill me?" asked Hayashi, Ayane stopping. "I still remember how helpless you were when you fought Haruka, all without your precious power..." Doing the unthinkable, Ayane sprays herself with Moira's gas, surprising her allies, with the exception of Naruto, who knew this was a fight she needed to finish herself. When Kasumi tried to step in, Kazuma stops her, understanding how the purple-haired kunoichi felt.

"Old Man, give this coward one of the exosuits," she told Ray, who asked if she was sure. "Yes..." As the rain pours on them, Naruto told Erebus Squad not to interfere as Hayashi arrogantly puts on the exosuit, hoping to make the girl feel even more helpless and weak.

"You must be very arrogant if you think you can beat me without all that ninja magic," said Haruka, activating the exosuit before taking out a collapsible shock stick.

"I'm not arrogant, just confident, Scarface," Ayane responds with a smirk, angering Hayashi as he runs at her and performs a downward swing. The kunoichi effortlessly dodged it before striking the gangster on his left side, it being one of the exposed parts of the armor, cracking his ribs.

"That man you had working for you, Haruka, despite how much I hate him, he was a far more difficult person to fight," said the kunoichi, dodging again before knocking the shock stick away with a kick. "Compared to you, you are nothing, even with that expensive equipment you're wearing." Ayane avoids Hayashi's right fist before grabbing his right arm and snapping it on her knee by the elbow joint.

"AHHHH!" Hayashi screamed, reeling back as Ayane slowly approached the coward.

"Compared to Haruka, to me, you're just some coward playing with toys. Our roles have been reversed. Now you're the one who's powerless and afraid, just like all your victims." When Hayashi tries to punch her with his left fist, Ayane caught it before crushing it in her hands, thus earning another scream from Hayashi. With her enemy's arms disabled, Ayane used her fighting skills to strike at the armor's exposed points, inflicting more and more pain on Hayashi as the others watched. Ayane finished by kicking him down onto the wet ground, making all the males watching cringe when the kunoichi stomped on and destroyed the armor protecting the area between Hayashi's legs, crushing his "two jewels" in the process.

"Ayane..." Kasumi grew worried when she did that, remembering how their mother felt when Raidou had his way with her, which resulted in Ayane's birth. Kneeling down, Ayane stabs a couple of kunais into Hayashi's arms, preventing him from struggling, simply ripping out the chest piece of the exosuit after, which housed the power core that ran the suit. Taking out one of her kodachi, she positions it over the gangster's chest, slowly pushing it in as Hayashi screams in pain, the kunoichi clenching her teeth in anger as she remembered her whole ordeal. Before the short sword's blade could go in deeper, she stops, everyone around her wondering what she was going to do now.

"Look at me..." she told Hayashi, who does what she ordered him to do, meeting her anger-filled eyes. "How does it feel to be scared of the one whose power you stole? To be at my mercy as I prepare to end your pathetic life?" The fear-filled Hayashi can't find it in himself to speak as he looked at her, the kunoichi's red eyes giving off a fierce glow.

"Remember this face of mine. Remember the girl who beat you, who is standing over you, victorious. Killing you, I should...But I won't," Ayane said, pulling out her kodachi and standing up, her gaze never looking away from Hayashi's. "You're not worth killing to me. However, that doesn't mean Naruto can't kill you." Kasumi sighs in relief as Ayane walked away from Hayashi, having emerged both victorious and stronger as Naruto slowly approached Hayashi, intimidating him with his red slitted eyes as he puts his right foot over the gangster's chest, slowly applying pressure to it. Hayashi's final blood gushing scream could be heard by the kunoichi before she hears a crack, followed by silence. With the gangster's death, Ayane drops to her hands and knees and heavily breathes to herself, Kasumi and Naruto going over to help her up.

"I'm okay," she assures them, getting up herself, with some effort. "It's over..."

"Yeah...it's over," said Naruto. "Let's go..." As the three ninjas head walk away, Ray, Trent and Erebus Squad follow behind, having received a call from Kirigiri informing them that they had arrested Yuno Nakumura, having taken a while to do so since he had Talon agents guarding his attempted escape, Aiko being the one to prevent it and knock him out.

 **Tokyo, Japan**

 **Future Foundation Headquarters**

 **Kirigiri's Office**

"Thanks for your help, Naruto, Kasumi, Ayane. We managed to not only cut some of Talon's funding but find and dismantle the rest of the stolen UltraTech equipment," said Kirigiri, sounding thankful towards the ninjas. "There's still some minor unfinished business to deal with, but it's something I'll personally handle.

"Where are Hotaruko and Lorenzo?" asked Ayane, having been told by Director Kirigiri earlier in their conversation that the Kuzuryu Mansion was attacked by Kouta's men. It relieved her to know that Mukuro Ikusaba had protected them alongside Fuyuhiko and Pekoyama.

"Those two are back at their homes, safe and sound..."

"Thank goodness..."

"I'm glad we can rest easy." said Naruto, Kasumi telling him and her sister, "Not me. I need to get back to Tsugumi. I still have a mission to accomplish," before preparing to leave.

"Kasumi!" Turning around, the older sister's eyes widened when the purple-haired kunoichi told her to be careful and to call her if she ever needs her help.

"Thanks," said Kasumi, who leaves right after, shutting the door behind her on her way out.

"Naruto, before you leave, Erebus Squad wants to celebrate their mission with you for a bit." Naruto asks Kirigiri if that was the last thing he needed to do for her before he can go.

"Yes."

"Ayane, why don't you go pick up Hinami and rest at home? You've had a rough night."

"Okay...Don't keep us waiting too long." said the kunoichi. After getting a kiss on the cheek from Ayane, Naruto leaves with a smile on his face.

"So the two of you are boyfriend and girlfriend now?" asked Kirigiri, Ayane turning red, deciding to say nothing. "You remind me of myself. Like you, I was never able to express myself with others, having to hide them and keep others at arm's length. It was only by meeting my husband that I changed." Kirigiri smiled as she looked at the photo of her, Makoto, and their daughter on her desk. "There were many complications, mainly on my part, but we managed through it all."

"You mind telling me about it?" With a smile, Kirigiri promised to tell her over tea, when they weren't busy with work. "I'll hold you on that promise."

"I'm one who keeps her promise, don't worry...Naruto is a nice boy. Full of flaws left and right, but nice."

"Thanks..."

"I should let you go now. Have a good night, Ayane."

 **Mess Hall**

"Hey, there he is!" yelled Ray as the blond ninja entered the room, getting pats on the back from every single squad member. "That was the second time you saved my ass."

"Well, Ayane saved you this time, but I'll take it in her place. Where's Trent?" Ray tells Naruto how he decided to leave home early, having taken a combat booster from Dr. Ziegler that allowed him to heal quickly so he could help fight Kouta and Hayashi. "He was told that stuff would make him very drowsy after. He also said he wanted to get to work early tomorrow."

"A policeman's work is never done..."

"Lucky for me, I just need to go back to retirement and hang with my daughters, until my wife comes back, and I can finally take that anniversary trip to Europe with her." Naruto tells Ray to have fun, the latter saying, "Oh, I plan to," before asking him where Ayane was.

"She's on her way to pick up my niece," he said.

"I take it she'll be waiting for you at home?" Naruto simply smiles, recalling Ray asking him if there was a girl waiting for him back home and answering him with a yes. "Did you make amends with her?"

"I did, and then some..." Understanding what the blond meant when he said, "and then some," Ray pats him on the back, telling him, "This calls for a celebration. Hey boys, this blond kid got himself a girlfriend!" Naruto turns red as Erebus Squad congratulates him, telling the old man, "Did you really have to tell the guys?"

"It's an Erebus Squad tradition."

 **15 minutes later**

 **Visiting Room**

Aiko sits down on the chair as Yuno comes in, handcuffed. Between them was a barrier of energy. Aiko was given a few minutes to converse with Yuno before he was sent to prison.

"Yuno...Words cannot describe how low you've sunken. To provide funds for terrorists? How long have you been doing this?" asked Aiko.

"It's none of your-"

"It is," said Aiko, interrupting his brother. "You brought shame onto the Nakumura name. The company dad worked so hard on. The company he made all by himself. You've besmirched it...Why? Why would you support terrorists!?"

"Same reason why Talon exists: To help Humanity grow strong through conflict," said Yuno. "We have these heroes, these superhumans, people with these talents and quirks, protecting us, making us reliant on them to come in to save us. How long will it be until they can no longer protect us and we're left defenseless? What if they suddenly turn on us? We've had aliens that had the means of destroying our planet with one blast, mysterious tree roots putting people around the world to sleep, and those are just the tip of the iceberg. Talon seeks to give us a chance at fighting for ourselves."

"By providing gangsters with fucking advanced technology!?"

"A necessary evil to help cut down the ever-growing population of superhumans, both heroes and villains. If Father was alive, he would-"

"HE WOULD BE AGAINST THIS!" yelled Aiko. "Whether you like it or not, there are things Humanity can't overcome alone. We need these heroes like Naruto, Saiyaman, All Might, and Overwatch, and we need to work with them, not against them."

"You are a fool to support them, Aiko."

"It takes one to know one, Yuno...Goodbye." Yuno said nothing as he gets taken by a coup of FF troopers, Aiko taking one last glance at him before leaving.

 **Sainan Town**

 **Kotegawa Residence**

Ayane, dressed in her casual attire, felt uneasy as she stood in front of the door. Not only did she teleport away without saying anything to Yui last night, but she also put Hinami to sleep with a genjutsu. As she pondered what to say, Yui opened the door, much to the kunoichi's surprise.

"Ayane..." Behind the equally surprised Yui was Hinami.

"Yui...Hinami...I was just...I was..." Ayane looked like she was about to cry, Hinami tearing up as she ran to the girl and hugged her.

 **[FATE/STAY NIGHT [HEAVEN'S FEEL] II. LOST BUTTERFLY OST - I will face my fate]**

 _"Why did you leave!?"_ asked a crying Hinami. _"Where were you for a month!? I kept wondering if you'd ever come home...Always afraid you wouldn't come back. How could you do that...How could you..."_ Hearing how much the girl missed her, the Hajinmon kunoichi finally breaks down and hugs Hinami.

 _"I'm sorry...Forgive me for being selfish..."_ said Ayane. _"I was hurt, so much. I thought if I left, if I stayed away from you and Naruto, I wouldn't feel hurt anymore, but it only made the pain worse. But now..."_ As the two reconciled, Yui just smiled as she watched them hug it out. After the tears were shed, Ayane and Hinami went back to Naruto's house, Yui wanting to give them time to catch up. As they walked home, Hinami asked Ayane if Naruto said, "I love you," to her yet.

 **[Music End]**

 **[FATE/STAY NIGHT [HEAVEN'S FEEL] I. PRESAGE FLOWER OST - song of a tiny flower]**

"Yes, he told me he loved me," she said to Hinami. "I still can't tell people I'm-"

"his girlfriend?" Hinami interrupts, the kunoichi responding with a yes and thanks. "It's been a few hours since you two became a couple. I'm sure you can say it with time...Ayane-san?"

"Yes?" Nervous, Hinami asked Ayane if she could now call her Big Sister Ayane now that she was dating Naruto. Looking away as her face started flushing, she told her she could call her whatever she wanted. "Okay...This may be a tedious question, but... Do you...love Naruto now?"

"...Yes, I love him...Very very much," said Ayane, looking up at the night sky with a smile.

"How much do you love him?"

"Enough to make my heart beat fast when I see him...Enough to know I can be safe in his arms...Enough to get angry at him for not telling me sooner and forgive him...He's standing behind us, isn't he?" Turning around, she and Hinami see Naruto awkwardly scratching the back of his head, his face red from hearing how much the kunoichi loved him.

"How much did you hear?" she asked in a shy tone.

"All of it," he said.

"I see...If you tell anyone I said those things, I will kill you."

"I'll remember that."

"As long as you know..." As the three walk home together, Ayane tells Naruto that, despite being a couple, nothing about them has changed. "I thought things would feel different after you and I became ..."very close friends."

"I figure it's because we're already familiar and comfortable with each other. The only difference is that we're boyfriend and girlfriend. In a way, we were already a couple, we just didn't know it, nor were we official," he responds. "I don't mind though..."

"If you put it that way, it makes sense, and it's better than being head over heels in love..." Resuming their walk in the quiet neighborhood in silence, Ayane, with some effort on her part, held Naruto's right hand, the latter taking notice and saying nothing as he smiled and looked forward, Hinami smiling herself as she saw the two hold hands for the first time.

 **[Music End]**

 **A month later**

 **Rinko Residence**

"How do I feel after getting a boyfriend and overcoming Hayashi after almost being defiled by him, his boss, and their men last month?... Relieved I was saved before it happened, and happy that I got my feelings through to Naruto, and was rewarded," said Ayane, laying on a couch as Mrs. Rinko listened and wrote in her notebook. "I am a bit, just a bit, disappointed I didn't kill Hayashi."

"But if you did kill him, it would mean you'd be letting what almost happened to you get to you. You're doing well for yourself since that night."

"Yes, I am, aren't I?" Ayane responds.

"Now, are there any fears you have?" Ayane tells Mrs. Rinko she was unsure if she can keep up with being the girlfriend Naruto needs her to be, noting how she wasn't exactly girly like most of his female friends.

"I still think Naruto is crazy to fall for a girl like me. There are better girls he could be with, and I've met with most of them, but he chose me..."

"I don't think you need to worry about it," said Mrs. Rinko. "You are fine as you are. You have no need to be something you're not. Naruto loves you just the way you are."

"Another thing is...I haven't told Hayate, my mother, or Shiden that I have a boyfriend. They're coming all the way to Japan from our village to celebrate Hinami's birthday. Naruto's on his way to pick them up as we speak."

"Ayane, you can do it. You just need to count to ten, take a deep breath, and exhale. After that, approach them, look them in their eyes, and tell them. If that doesn't help, make sure to hold Naruto's hand and remember how safe you feel when you hold it. Do those and you will be fine. Can you do that?"

"Yeah...Yeah, I can do that." Ayane hears the timer go off as Mrs. Rinko tells her she was free to go. "Thanks, Mrs. Rinko. You've been a huge help to me."

"It's been my pleasure to help you. I hope you and my daughter have fun at Hinami's birthday."

 **Kamurocho**

 **Unnamed Prison**

"You're looking okay for yourself despite being in a shithole like this for a whole month," said Trent, his former teammate letting out a sigh. "Just three more years and you're out."

"That's what I get for working for scum like Kouta and Hayashi...I appreciate you coming here to visit me, along with my sister."

"Don't forget that I also bring you delicious sandwiches," said a smiling Trent.

"I can't believe you'd visit someone like me every day, despite what I've done," said Ellis. "You don't have to do this, you know. You can just go and forget about a criminal like me."

"True, I have every reason to have nothing to do with you, but it's my choice. I'm not giving up on you, and neither is your older sister."

"Speaking of my sister, where is she?"

"She's taking a test. Told me to tell you, "You better shape up and get yourself sorted out for when you come out." Ellis can't help but chuckle at this. "Once you get out of here, I'm taking you out for drinks, on me. What do you say?"

"...When that day comes, I hope you have a big wallet, because I can hold my alcohol pretty well."

 **Reissue**

"You're serious about this?" asked Lorenzo. It was a surprise when Aiko told the mechanic he planned to retire from racing and focus on running his father's company in hopes of regaining the company's honor and fulfill his father's wish.

"I put a lot of thought into it since then...and I am set on it."

"So who's going to race in your place?"

"You are." Lorenzo's eyes widened when Aiko chose him to be his replacement. "You've got talent, Lorenzo, and though you'll need to start from the ground up, I believe you can become a great race car driver, better than me. I'll even back you up and provide coaching and support for you."

"These are some major changes...Are you really sure about all this?" asked Lorenzo.

"I am. What do you say?" After giving it some thought, Lorenzo said, "Let's do it."

 **Jinbocho, Tokyo**

"Naruto!" Turning around, the blond said hello to Hotaruko, who asked him where he was going once she stops in front of him. "I'm on the way to pick up Ayane's family from the airport." Looking at the bag she was holding, he asked her if the contents inside were for Hinami. "Oh, yes they are. I think she'll love it."

"Can you tell me what it is?"

"No, then it wouldn't be a surprise," said Hotaruko, Naruto understanding. "By the way, I read your book, the recent one, **"Kunoichi Dreams of an (Almost) Impossible Romance"** , and I loved it. Within just three weeks, it became both one of the top ten highest weekly selling in Japan, and one of the top 5 most read books in-"

"I know, you don't need to finish," said a shy Naruto. "It's my first romance novel and I can't believe it myself. Get very embarrassed about it, especially when I hear people talk about it."

"Do you plan to write a sequel?" Naruto tells her he didn't, and the story was fine as it is and didn't need a sequel to ruin it. "You're right...Thanks for helping me with my studies. It helped me pass my test."

"I'm happy to help," Naruto told the girl. "We can talk more at the party. For now, I have to go. Can't keep her family waiting."

"Of course..."

"Before you go, since I finished your new book, tell me, did you base it on your romance with her?" With a smile, Naruto said, "Maybe I did...Or maybe all of it is pure fiction."

 **Naruto's House**

 **Guest List**

 **Kyoko Kirigiri,** **Trent Masterson,** **Hotaruko Rinko,** **Yui Kotegawa,** **Haru Okumura,** **Hotaruko Rinko, Ichigo Kurosaki, Orihime Inoue, Karin Kurosaki, Yuzu Kurosaki, Rukia Kuchiki, Hinata Hyuga, Shikamaru Nara, Hanabi Hyuga, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, Ryu Hayabusa, Momiji, Moka Akashiya, Kasumi, Hayate, Shiden, Ayame, Yakeru Namikaze, Tina Armstrong, Bass Armstrong, Rito Yuuki, Mikan Yuuki, Lala Satalin Deviluke, Nana Astar Deviluke, Momo Belia Deviluke, Peke, Haruna Sairenji, Saki Tenjouin, Fujisaki Aya, Rin Kujou, and Seishirou Tsugumi**

"Are you sure it's okay for me to be here?" asked Yakeru, unsure about being invited, given his status as Naruto's monster-made clone.

"Of course," said the blond as Ichigo, Rito, and Sasuke listened on, Naruto patting his clone on the back. "Hinami insisted that you come to her birthday. How was it working with Sasuke?"

"It was a good experience..."

"He's a bit rough around the edges, and he doesn't always follow my orders, but he's working on that," said Sasuke.

"This birthday party...What am I supposed to do at one?" Naruto and his friends looked surprised when Yakeru asked the question, remembering right away that Yakeru was still learning about emotions and life. "For now, just get to know people. Forge new bonds."

"How does that work?"

"Ummm...Ichigo talk to him for me. I'm going to go talk to Lala about upgrading my house's security." Ichigo yells for Naruto to come back, unsure of what to talk to him about. "So...How did Naruto meet you?"

"We tried to kill each other." Ichigo, Rito, and Sasuke looked at him with wide-eyed expressions, unsure of what to say after hearing that. After finishing her conversation with Haru, Ayane found herself face to face with Hinata.

"Hinata..."

"Ayane...It's been a while."

"Over a month, yes," said Ayane, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the Hyuga girl since she was dating her crush. "You've been busy?"

"Yes, I have. Thank goodness my mother decided to fill in for me so I could come here, huh?" Ayane only nods her head yes before silence took over. "...So you and Naruto are...together?"

"Yes, we're together..."

"It was only a matter of time...Ayane, I'm sorry for making you feel hurt and angry. I never meant to give you so much pain, and I just want to say that I support the relationship." Touched by Hinata's apology, the Hajinmon kunoichi forgave her, admitting she would've done the same if she was in her shoes. "If it's okay, I'd like to start over with us and actually be friends."

"I'm all for that," said Ayane. "Maybe when we're not busy, we can go to a hot spring or go out and explore another country, without any boys. Just us, and some other girls." Hinata tells Ayane she loved the idea before hugging her. Though she wasn't a fan of hugs, unless it was Naruto doing the hugging, she decides to say nothing.

"I'm going to go talk to Kotegawa. I'll see you later."

"Alright, enjoy the party..." Once Hinata left, Ayane turns around and sees her mother talking to Shiden and having a good time, seeing the smiles on their faces. Recalling what Mrs. Rinko told her to do, she takes a deep breath and counts to ten before deciding to approach them. However, she gets nervous.

"Maybe I'm not ready for this." Ayane gets a bit startled when Naruto holds her hand.

"Nervous?" Red in the face, she said yes to her boyfriend, earning a smile from him. "I thought I could do it myself..."

"You don't have to tell them alone. I'll be with you, don't worry." Feeling the gentleness of Naruto's hand, Ayane thanks him, who tells her with a smile, "What sort of person would I be if I didn't have your back?"

"You ass..." said a smiling Ayane, approaching Ayame and Shiden, with Naruto in hand. "Mother?...Shiden?" Turning her attention towards her blushing daughter, Ayame said hello to her daughter before asking her what she needed. "I...have something to tell you and Shiden."

"Of course, what is it?" asked Shiden, curious about what she had to tell them. Sucking up all her courage, the blushing kunoichi told them, "Naruto and I...Naruto and I are..."

 **ED: 虹の音 (Sound of the Rainbow)**

* * *

 **Post-Credits**

 **A week ago**

 **Sal and Lorenzo's**

"Naruto, I smell gas and oil, where are we?" asked Ayane, having been blindfolded by her boyfriend as he walked her towards the garage.

"Just be patient, Ayane, and don't take off the blindfold until I give the okay. Sal, Lorenzo, is it ready?" Sal tells him it was ready to go. "Alright, open you can take it off." Removing her blindfold, Ayane's eyes widened when Naruto, Sal, and Lorenzo present her with a purple Ferrari 250 GTO.

"You got me, a ninja who can outrun a car if I wanted to, a car?" asked Ayane. "You do realize I need a license before I can drive. Also, shouldn't I be two years older before I can ride?"

"Oh...So you don't like it?" said Naruto, sulking in a corner of the garage, making Ayane panic. "No, it's fine, Naruto! I love the car! Honestly!"

"Oh thank goodness," said a now-relieved Naruto. "Also, you don't have to worry about waiting until you're 18. Kirigiri made it so I can drive vehicles, license and all. I even asked her to make one for you, should you pass the driving test, which you will." As she checks out the car, Sal asked her what she was going to name it.

"Name it?"

"I figure since it's your car, you must have a name for it." Thinking deeply about what name to give it, Ayane finally comes up with one.

"Omo." Naruto, Sal, and Lorenzo look at her weird, finding the name odd and unheard of.

"O-...Omo?" asked Sal. **"Is that even a name?"**

"It's my car, and it's a cute name," said the blushing kunoichi. "Don't ask why. It's none of your business."

"...Omo it is," said a smiling Naruto, Ayane nodding her head yes as she angrily but cutely pouts at him.

 **To be concluded in "Fulfilled Butterfly"**

* * *

 **Finally, now I can get started on the epilogue to this.**

 **Ayane had every reason to kill him, but after remembering how "Unleashed", a movie starring Jet Li ended, with him not killing the antagonist, I figured her beating Hayashi and overcoming him without using chakra and ki was enough for her. Joker got to Superman, leading Joker to his death and making Supes evil, which kicked off Injustice. He could've spared him and proved himself incorruptible, but the Clown Prince of Crime got to him. At least Naruto kills Hayashi, being the boyfriend he is and finishing him for her.**

 **The bit where Ayane had a session with Mrs. Rinko was a nice addition since she was originally unwilling to completely open up to people. With her seeing Hotaruko's mother, it's a good sign.**

 **Yes, Naruto has listed the girls he slept with. Honesty is important in a relationship, so it had to be answered.**

 **Ayane knowing Hinami well is based on the relationship between Piccolo and Gohan, and Yami and Mikan Basically, Ayane knows how to care for a kid.**

 **Regarding Honami calling Ayane, "Big Sister," while Ayane acts like a mother, I felt that having Hinami call her Big Sister fits. I mean, a 16-year old being a mother? That's just strange to me.**

 **Why did I cut off Ayane's announcement like that? Because it will continue on in Fulfilled Butterfly when Naruto and Ayane talk about it three months from now. Regarding the three months, an event called Servant Uprising will occur, in which the main focus is High School DxD and Fate/stay night. They will talk about it since it's a major event that occurred worldwide, an event where all Servants in the Fate series, good and bad, fight it out for their own reasons, the main antagonist manipulating them using a corrupt Holy Grail, which is more than it seems. Perhaps it's something else taking the form of the Holy Grail? Maybe something evil that overtook a piece of the Holy Grail and managed to manipulate it and the system?"**

 **In Servant Uprising, there will be several characters from other series as Servants, along with characters that were dead. That includes Itachi Uchiha, Guts (BERSERK), and maybe more. Former Jinchuurikis will also come back to life as allies, including a few Kages.**

 **Also, Xenovia returns during Servant Uprising. You can find out about Servant Uprising, well, bits and pieces of it, on my deviantART page. Her coming back to life will be a doozy. Also, more crazy shit to come. I plan to make Servant Uprising one of the biggest crossovers since several parties are involved, which include Naruto, BLEACH, Danganronpa, One Piece, and maybe Dragonball, though Goku won't make an appearance since he's still dead. At least Gohan is an adult now.**

 **I'd like to thank CranberryVishnu, who now goes by BranMcmuffin, for allowing me to write my take on ART OF WAR, with a very different route. Kudos to him.**


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